14 DAY TRIAL // Kodak may be on death's door, figuratively speaking, but even in this state it has managed to get the biggest names on the IT industry to pick up their arms.
We aren't quite sure what to make of this picture, but we can say this much: Kodak's drawn-out demise has led to some interesting alliances.
The company used to be one of, if not the biggest name on the photo camera market, but its failure to enter the digital camera business spelled its doom.
Now that it is auctioning a bunch of patents, and doesn't have Apple's lawsuit hindering it, quite a few corporations are vying for its IP.
And there is a lot of intellectual property too. So much, in fact, that interested parties aren't jumping into the hunt alone.
There is also the fact that those 700 patents have generated more than $3 billion in revenues since the year 2000.
Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, HTC, LG and Intellectual Ventures (a patent troll on par with Rambus), all want some or all of those 700-1,100 digital-capture patents.
To improve their odds, they have formed alliances: Google, Samsung, HTC, LG and non-practicing entity RPX are one team, while Microsoft, Intellectual Ventures and Apple are the other.
The bankruptcy court-ordered auction will take place on August 8, 2012, and will not have a pre-set starting bid.
The set is supposed to be worth up to $2.6 billion, or 2.11 billion Euro, or so Kodak says, but it is possible for the true value to be higher or lower.
For those who don't know, the IP set relates to capturing and processing images on cameras, smartphones and tablets, hence the bidders. Apple may be trying to acquire them the hard way, since it was denied the shot at a debacle similar to the patent war with Samsung.