The bankruptcy court won't be letting extra difficulties hinder Kodak

Jul 28, 2012 10:27 GMT  ·  By

Apple has been trying to change the authorities overseeing its patent infringement lawsuit against Kodak, but its latest bid has been denied, something which may have contributed to its decision to ally with Microsoft and a patent troll.

Soon after, Kodak filed for bankruptcy and began setting up an auction for some of its extensive patent portfolio. So, naturally, patent wars happened.

Apple was quite fast in suing Kodak over trying to sell patents that it allegedly helped create. That is to say, Apple partially owns them apparently.

The Cupertino, California-based company first tried to hinder Kodak back in June, but Kodak was allowed to go forward with the auction anyway.

Undeterred, especially since Kodak's request to have the whole matter dismissed was denied, Apple then tried to change the overseeing committee.

Basically, it tried to have the case transferred from the bankruptcy court to a district court, something that would have automatically lowered a barrier in front of the sealed-bid process.

Perhaps Apple felt encouraged when Kodak's own action against it, as well as RIM, was dismissed.

At any rate, the patent sales are actually required under the terms of the $950 million loan that Kodak obtained to maintain operations while in bankruptcy.

"Apple and FlashPoint are seeking to benefit from Kodak's difficult financial position, which will be exacerbated if the debtors cannot obtain fair value for the patents," Kodak said.

Initially, we knew of 1,100 patents that were going to be sold, but the new number given is 700. That actually makes us wonder how valuable the IP is. Presumably, even just these 700 entries have earned Kodak $3 billion / 2.43 billion Euro since the early 2000s.

If Apple doesn't somehow manage to squeeze a win in the near future, the bidding will commence next month (August, 2012).