The U.S. International Trade Commission has finally arrived at a verdict in Eastman Kodak Co.’s patent infringement dispute with Apple and Research in Motion. Thought there was no general consensus in the case, the trade-dispute arbiter in Washington D.C. agreed with the ruling of one of its judges, which threw out the photography pioneer’s claims. Some of the matters were sent back to the judge for review so Kodak could still prevail in them.
While the decision was largely mixed and the agency did find limited patent infringement, Kodak’s stocks still fell by 16%. Shannon Cross of Cross Research explained that the verdict has had a negative impact on Kodak because it did not win. And although there is a fair chance that the company could still prevail in the matters that are being re-considered, the chances that it will get a large settlement in the dispute look slim.
Earlier, Kodak’s Chief Executive Antonio Perez had hoped that the company would be able draw a settlement amount to the order of $1 billion from the two tech giants. Kodak’s chief intellectual property officer said in a statement that the company is happy that the commission has decided to modify the judge’s initial recommendation in favor of the company. She maintained the company’s position that the final verdict in the case will be in Kodak’s favour. No officials from either Apple or RIM were available for comment on the matter.
Kodak, the 131 year old photography company, argued that image-preview technology it had patented in 2001 was used by the Apple and RIM in its products. In a similar case in 2009, the South Korean trade commission had found that cell phone makers Samsung and LG had infringed the same technology. That case had resulted in payoffs of around $946 million.
Once the pioneer in imaging technology, Kodak has been struggling to find a place in the world of digital imaging. Since 2004 it has had only one full year of profitability and it is expecting an annual loss this financial year too. The company’s total workforce, which stood at 70,000 employees in 2002 has come down to only 18,000. It only hopes to return to profitability in late 2012 on the basis of four key businesses, consumer inkjet printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging. The company also expects to double its revenue to $2 billion by the year 2013.
