Apple seeks court approval to sue bankrupt Kodak (aka Patent Troll on it again)

[Vyom]

Kicking it whilst it’s down, Apple seeks court approval to sue bankrupt Kodak​

Kodak, one of the pioneers of modern photography, could soon be on the receiving end of another potential cash-consuming lawsuit, if Apple receives approval to sue the company in a New York court over alleged patent infringement.

Having already filed for bankruptcy in January and announcing last week that it would kill off its camera business to focus on its core products, Kodak now awaits a decision from a bankruptcy judge who may give Apple permission to file a patent complaint over technologies used in printers, digital cameras and digital picture frames.

The kicker for Kodak? Printers and picture frames are exactly what the company has announced it will focus on following its restructuring.

If the US Bankruptcy Court approves Apple’s request, the Cupertino-based company’s next stop is the International Trade Commission and the US District Court in Manhattan, where it will file lawsuits and seek a block on Kodak’s infringing products.

Bloomberg reports that Kodak can ask the court to delay the district court case until the ITC makes it ruling, although Apple has said that it will commence with its action regardless.

Kodak and Apple have fought over patents previously, with Apple asserting that it shared camera patents with Kodak. The ITC issued a split decision on ownership of the patents and now Apple is requesting that the case is transferred to the court in Manhattan.

Kodak believes it will save more than $100 million in annual operating savings as a result of phasing-out its digital camera business — if Apple has its way, it will see the very products that Kodak is focusing on blocked from sale, if the ITC and New York courts agree.

Only the "F" word comes in mind!

 

[tkin]

Pathetic. Guess android finally started showing its fangs.

 

[Anorion]

dont like the slant in the article, the patent system is a mess, but its putting undue blame on Apple for protecting its assets, in fact it was Kodak that blinked first and tried to monetize its patents by suing Samsung, HTC and Apple, which is the same Nortel story all over again, as soon as a company looks like its going out of business they try to gather up and sell their patents
and its not like the android guiz are not trolls, or else why should Google sit on the Motorola portfolio?

everyone is suffering equally because of this problem... the so called biggest companies are not and cannot be the culprits at all, say a part may be designed by one company, fabricated by another, there are so many parts in a phone, so basically almost every company's core technologies are being sold in another company's model... upwards of 30 component manufacturers are involved in any single phone... Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, Sony all make varied and different core components, Apple does not even do that... the only thing Apple really "makes" is the screws and the usb interface. Samsung and Apple may be battling out in court, but both the companies are in very much a symbiotic relationship. So Apple's entire business is based on mostly other's people's technologies, and all of this is even without the number of third parties that get into the software layer, they need to shell out money to third parties for rediculous things that shudnt even be patented... simple things like IAP, which is owned by an obscure company called Lodsys - these are the true patent trolls, whose entire business is around nothing but patents

 

[gopi_vbboy]

So what is that exactly kodak copied from apple?

 

[fun2sh]

poor kodak. Literally lol

 

[tkin]

So what is that exactly kodak copied from apple?

Does it matter? Its apple? They'll sue you for eating an apple if they could.

 

[coderunknown]

^^ if they could they'll also sue Nursery book publishers for showing Apple as a fruit & not as their company.

Apple again kicking the dead horse

 

[Sarath]

When the iPhone released and everyone started copying it, I was like, why won't they sue?

Looks like it's happening now.

Patent troll is a wrong word. There is a company that amasses all patent holders and derive s commison based on the winnings of those patent infringment suites. Now that is a classic patent troll.

Nokia, Motorola, Windows who hold a massive portfolio of patents have to give it away under the fair trade agreement (or something can't recollect accurately)

Apple on the other hand is innovating a lot, which is blatantly stolen (and it's my guess it steals back too ). Since it's at the top of the game it's not surprising that people would just rather copy than do the whole jig from scratch bringing us to such patent battles. But if it holds essential patents then it too will have to follow that "fair trade agreement" or something.

Although what I find more alarming is that no one bother's to read the actual filing of the papers and the patents involved but merely comments at what little is summarised in the article (I read it yesterday on engadget iirc)

IIRC this is what I understood. Apple realised Kodak infringed. Went to court for permission to sue > Granted > Sued Kodak

I wish for a world free of Apple fanbois and Apple haters.

It's just one corporation fighting another. Why do we involve ourselves? WE get no apples

 

[kg11sgbg]

Does it matter? Its apple? They'll sue you for eating an apple if they could.

Completely endorse your views,pal.
+1 for this.

If ever I get a hell lot of money to splurge(buying a premium Laptop & Tablet,likewise) never I shall buy any products(IT related)from
They are actually ROTTEN to their heart.

I wish for a world free of Apple fanbois and Apple haters.

It's just one corporation fighting another. Why do we involve ourselves? WE get no apples

^^Justified.

 

[Anorion]

No, Apple does not steal back, neither did Kodak stea, nobody is stealing here at all,
and about the form factors being similar where say a samsung device can be easily confused for an apple device, that is a separate fight, and should not be got into this

the patents system is messed up because it is not for the end product, but for the approach and method as well. If the best way to encode a song or picture is a particular method, then somebody owns that method, and whoever encodes songs or pictures using that method has to pay them royalties. This works for small, abstract things, IAP, the way the photos in a photo album behave when swiped, the use of gestures on a touch sensitive surface, the way a particular autofocus algorithm works... these tiny things form a mountain of patented stuff, and this is what the fight is going on over.

now the problem is not a direct one of stealing. Its not that samsung copied the way apple uses its home-screen... that kind of thing is rampant, its a way to monetize your entire portfolio. Say you are going bankrupt, or even you are not going bankrupt, the mountain of patents that you do own, is so worded that there is a ton of technology out there that can be said to be similar to what you own, this is not difficult, describe the way any OS works and see if the things are diverging from one phone to another... its more like, hey look at how much money we stand to make if we sue everyone else... this is exactly whats happening, and Apple does not need to monetize its patents, because, well, they are on top, and are the best in the industry... in fact both Samsung and Intel stand a lot to lose if Apple stop doing what it does... it needs to protect them, but Kodak needs to monetize its patents because its going bankrupt lol, so it sued Apple, HTC, and a bunch of other companies before this for using digital cameras in their mobile phones

the problem is that the patent system is failing miserably, where it is retarding innovation instead of promoting it

 

[gopi_vbboy]

No, Apple does not steal back, neither did Kodak stea, nobody is stealing here at all,
and about the form factors being similar where say a samsung device can be easily confused for an apple device, that is a separate fight, and should not be got into this

the patents system is messed up because it is not for the end product, but for the approach and method as well. If the best way to encode a song or picture is a particular method, then somebody owns that method, and whoever encodes songs or pictures using that method has to pay them royalties. This works for small, abstract things, IAP, the way the photos in a photo album behave when swiped, the use of gestures on a touch sensitive surface, the way a particular autofocus algorithm works... these tiny things form a mountain of patented stuff, and this is what the fight is going on over.

now the problem is not a direct one of stealing. Its not that samsung copied the way apple uses its home-screen... that kind of thing is rampant, its a way to monetize your entire portfolio. Say you are going bankrupt, or even you are not going bankrupt, the mountain of patents that you do own, is so worded that there is a ton of technology out there that can be said to be similar to what you own, this is not difficult, describe the way any OS works and see if the things are diverging from one phone to another... its more like, hey look at how much money we stand to make if we sue everyone else... this is exactly whats happening, and Apple does not need to monetize its patents, because, well, they are on top, and are the best in the industry... in fact both Samsung and Intel stand a lot to lose if Apple stop doing what it does... it needs to protect them, but Kodak needs to monetize its patents because its going bankrupt lol, so it sued Apple, HTC, and a bunch of other companies before this for using digital cameras in their mobile phones

the problem is that the patent system is failing miserably, where it is retarding innovation instead of promoting it

err..how do you write some thing like that so long...jus explain me in single line pls