Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Kodak sues HTC, Apple over patent infringement

The two smartphone and tablet vendors are infringing on its digital imaging technology, the company alleges

Struggling Eastman Kodak is alleging that Apple's and HTC's smartphones and tablets infringe on its digital imaging technology, and has filed a complaint and lawsuits with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, it said on Tuesday.

The complaint to the ITC claims that some of Apple's iPhones, iPads, and iPods, and HTC's smartphones and tablets, infringe Kodak patents related to technology for transmitting images.

Kodak also alleges that HTC's smartphones infringe on a patent related to a method for previewing images, which is already the subject of pending actions against Apple.

Separately, Kodak also filed suits against Apple and HTC in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York alleging the same infringement, it said.

Four patents are the basis for Kodak's actions, including one for "automatically transmitting images from an electronic camera to a service provider using a network configuration file" and another patent for "capturing digital images to be transferred to an email address."

Kodak wants the ITC to stop the import of products that infringe on its patents, and has asked the District Court to stop Apple and HTC from infringing on the patents and award it damages.

Kodak has had numerous discussions with both companies in an attempt to resolve this issue, but has failed to reach an agreement, it said. The company's goal isn't to disrupt the availability of Apple's and HTC's products, but to get "fair compensation for the unauthorized use" of its technology, it said.

An HTC spokeswoman declined to comment until the company had reviewed the complaint. Apple didn't answer a request for a comment.

Kodak has already licensed patents related to its digital imaging technology to more than 30 companies, including LG Electronics, Motorola, Samsung Electronics and Nokia, it said.

The company is also using the technology in its own products, including two new cameras that were launched at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Toward the end of last year, Kodak lowered projections for its full-year revenue and year-end cash balance, and on Jan. 3 warned that it could face delisting from the New York Stock Exchange, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company has warned that performance this year will depend on it selling its digital imaging patents to raise cash for future investments, and there have been reports that the company is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection.

In this age of intellectual property lawsuits, patents have proven to be a very valuable commodity. For example, last year, Nortel sold 6,000 patents and patent applications for US$4.5 billion to a consortium consisting of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion and Sony, following a bidding war with Google, which later made a $12.5 billion bid to buy Motorola Mobility. The reasoning behind that deal is in part to better protect Android from patent lawsuits.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Apple, Apple., Consumer Electronics, Eastman Kodak, EMC, Ericsson, etwork, Google, HTC, International Trade Commission, ITC, Kodak, LG, LG Electronics, Microsoft, Motion, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel, Research In Motion, Samsung, Samsung Electronics, Securities and Exchange Commission, Sony
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Android, Android OS, Apple, applications, consumer electronics, Eastman Kodak, High Tech Computer, intellectual property, iOS, iPhone, legal, mobile, Mobile OSes, patent, smartphones, Telecommunication
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • The Big Six: The CIO Executive Council’s Frameworks for IT Value and Leadership
    This overview of six of the CIO Executive Council’s most important pieces of intellectual capital represents the thought leadership of literally hundreds of global CIOs spanning over half a decade. It is intended to convey the Council’s position on the current and future CIO role and the value that IT should be creating for the enterprise. We hope that it offers the IT community an intriguing and comprehensive roadmap for continued success.
    Learn more »
  • CISO Guide to Next Generation Threats - Combating Advanced Malware, Zero-Day and Targeted APT Attacks
    Over 95% of businesses unknowingly host compromised endpoints, despite their use of firewalls, intrusion prevention systems (IPS), antivirus and Web gateways.1 Today’s attacks look new and unknown to signature-based tools because the attacks employ advanced malware and zero-day vulnerabilities. To regain the upper hand against next-generation attacks, enterprises must turn to true next-generation protection: signature-less, proactive and real time. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • OVUM Report: Governance Risk and Compliance-- GRC usage and buying trends in the ANZ markets
    The existence of an established and stable governance risk and compliance strategy is extremely important to public and private sector organisations as they strive to meet an evergrowing range of regulatory demands. Given the current constraints, it is one of the few areas where the vast majority of organisations intend to either maintain or in many cases increase spending. Read more.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.