Kodak has started what the tabloids might call a scandal by taking Samsung and LG to court about the infringement of certain digital camera patents. This hostile action is surely to be regarded as damaging to Samsung and LG's overall image, at least from a regular user's point of view.

Kodak representatives have appealed to both the United States District Court for the Western District of New York and to the International Trade Commission. The patents in question refer to image capturing, compressing and data storage technologies. As expected, the plaintiff demands compensation for the infringement registered, and requests that neither Samsung nor LG have the right to continue distributing this technology on their devices.

No comment has yet been made as to how much the compensation should add up to from Kodak's point of view, but one can definitively assume it will be a fair demand, should the context of the accusations be justified.

Chief Intellectual Property Officer and Vice President of Kodak Eastman Company, Laura G. Quatela, did not shed too much light into the matter with her declaration. "Kodak has a long history of innovation and we have invested many millions of dollars developing our digital camera technology. We've held discussions with both companies in an attempt to resolve this issue and have not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement. Consequently, we must take this legal action in order to ensure that we protect the interests of our shareholders and existing licensees of Kodak digital camera patents." she said.

Should Samsung or LG, or both, be stripped of these imaging patents from Kodak, that would be nothing short of a dismal day for them, as they would have to come up with alternative ways of including such technologies in their devices.