Kodak patents up for grabs

Filing a motion this week to auction off a series of digital patents, the US photography company is attempting to refocus its business towards printing equipment.

In January, the company filed for Chapter 1 Bankruptcy Protection after a steady decline in sales, partly caused by a failure to capitalise on the trend for digital photography that other manufactures, mostly smartphone makers like Apple, RIM and Nokia, had been developing.

Kodak hopes to raise money from the sale of 1,100 patents that cover image capture, transmission technologies, image manipulation, processing, and network-based services.

They hope that these valuable patents will attract considerable bids from companies including Google, Samsung and Apple, who continue to dominate the consumer digital camera market.

The value of the patents is up for debate. Kodak says it thinks the patents coiuld be worth up to $2.6bn.

However, just last month a ruling by the US International Trade Commission declared one of Kodak’s patents invalid due to “obviousness”, which could significantly harm the price Kodak could expect to get for other patents.

Whether they receive the bids they expect, Kodak will press ahead with restructuring the business after posting a $366m loss in the first quarter of this year.

What the future holds for the camera industry could rest on which manufacturers secure the 133 year old companies intellectual property. One thing is certain, the days of the “Kodak moment” are long gone.