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Apple and Google Lead Separate Groups in Bidding for Kodak Patents

Friday July 27, 2012 2:05 pm PDT by Jordan Golson
NewImageGoogle and Apple are once again going head to head in bidding for a major collection of patents owned by a bankrupt corporation. According to The Wall Street Journal, two consortiums have formed to bid for the patents owned by camera giant Kodak, which is currently in bankruptcy.

Apple, Microsoft, and patent-aggregation firm Intellectual Ventures are teaming up, while Google, Samsung, LG, HTC and RPX Corp are forming the second alliance.
The people familiar with the discussions cautioned that work on bids could continue over the weekend, with alliances changing and other bidders potentially emerging.

[…]

A bankruptcy court supervised auction of Kodak's patents is set for Aug. 8. The patents are being sold in two lots: the digital-capture portfolio related to capturing and processing images on cameras, smartphones and tablets; and the Kodak Imaging Systems and Services patents related to storing and analyzing images, among other things.
The two teams are unsurprising. A consortium consisting of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM, and Sony purchased 6,000 patents from Nortel last year, beating out a group that included Intel and Google. For the Kodak patents, we see Google paired up with Samsung, LG and HTC -- three major Android handset makers -- along with RPX Corp., another patent aggregation firm.

Apple and Kodak have filed a number of lawsuits and countersuits against each other in the ongoing tech patent wars.

[ 117 comments ]


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bushido
88 months ago
just shows how pathatic software patents are. nothing to do with protecting your invention
Rating: 10 Votes
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codefuns
88 months ago
Why patent can be transferred? I think a patent should only protected its inventor, if the inventor (a person or company) broken or died, or doesn't use its patent to make profit or benefit human in a limit period, this patent should expired.
A lot of patents is very simple, funny simple, it is unfair for young people, and it will greatly prevent innovation.
Rating: 9 Votes
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chrmjenkins
88 months ago
Apple and Microsoft have the deepest pockets, so if they want them that bad, they'll get them. Apple also doesn't perceive WP7/8 as a major threat to its business either, so their teaming up makes sense.

Interesting. I cannot imagine Kodak having many patents that are relevant in this digital age. Maybe photo printing methods and stuff like that? Weird, but interesting.


Reading is your friend.

Apple and Kodak have filed a number of lawsuits and countersuits against each other in the ongoing tech patent wars.

Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
SPUY767
88 months ago
Seems like Goog trying to buddy up with its Android OEMs could have antitrust implications. Google needs a cudgel to use against Apple, they will pay dearly for these. We all know, however, that no one's pockets are deeper than Apple's.
Rating: 7 Votes
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HiRez
88 months ago
All Apple has to do is bid one dollar over Avogadro's Number. Done.

This is great news for Kodak, they will probably end up getting an obscene amount of money for the patents with the bidding war and at least pay off their creditors.
Rating: 6 Votes
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Lochias
88 months ago
Teams

Apple vs. Google vs. Microsoft

Let the battle begin.


Except that there are two sides, not three. Apple/Microsoft v. Google/Android.
Rating: 5 Votes
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Adey
88 months ago
Here's an idea: why don't all eight of the firms team up, thereby getting use of the patents for 1/8th the price, blocking out patent trolls (who probably couldn't afford them anyway, to be fair) and save themselves millions down the line by not having to constantly sue each other.

None of the eight have developed the technologies on offer, so I think they're probably more concerned with ongoing use of the patents than protecting them and having exclusive use.
Rating: 4 Votes
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mingoglia
88 months ago
Every time I see these threads about patent wars I think to myself how life could be different if patent wars existed years ago. For example, right now every can of cola/energy drinks is basically the same. The mechanism to open the can is identical. What if years ago there was a patent on a "aluminum can opening device"? We may have a half dozen different ways to open a can?

What about patenting a door as a "means to get out of a room that has 4 walls and no opening"?

How about patenting an automobile as having exactly 4 wheels? Or patenting a round steering wheel? How about the order in which the pedals are on the floor (clutch, brake, gas)? Could we be driving around in cars where the brake and gas are on different sides because having them in the same order would have infringed on a patent?

Yes, crazy stuff like this goes through my head, but at the end of the day I still believe the consumer is the one that potentially loses.
Rating: 4 Votes
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3282868
88 months ago

Spoken like a true socialist.


Sorry, you lost my interest with that first line.

If ignorance is bliss, you must be on some goooood stuff.
Rating: 4 Votes
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koolmagicguy
88 months ago
Ooooh, look, it's the tech olympics! :D
Rating: 3 Votes

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