Kodak has announced that it's suing Apple and HTC for infringing on four of its digital imaging patents. It also claims HTC to be infringing on a fifth image preview patent, which is already at the center of an ongoing case that Kodak has lodged against Apple and RIM. This latest suit was filed today with the US International Trade Commission and in a New York district court.
Eastman Kodak is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy within the coming weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company has been struggling to raise cash, which it needs to stay afloat and to transition into the printing business this year. In recent months, it has licensed its projector patents and sold its image sensor business unit, but apparently that hasn't been enough.
Kodak is struggling to stay afloat and as part of its efforts to raise enough cash to turn things around, the company may sell its online photo-sharing business called Kodak Gallery. Kodak has already licensed out its projector patents and sold its image sensor unit to generate cash in recent months.
Kodak announced today that it will be selling its image sensor solutions business to Platinum Equity in order to get closer to the cash targets required to keep the company afloat. Last month, Kodak licensed out its projector patents to IMAX for the same reason. The company has been struggling and could go out of business by next year if it doesn't shore up more money from asset sales.
Eastman Kodak has not handled the transition to digital photography as gracefully as its competitors, but when your company's over a century old, staying nimble isn't as easy as it used to be. Of course, a company with that much history has an overabundance of intellectual property, and that fact might help Kodak stay relevant in a market that has been outpacing it for several years. Kodak has announced a deal with IMAX to license its laser projection patents to the movie company, allowing it to more effectively project digital films on its gigantic screens.
Kodak has announced a new and small handheld video camera today that is called the Playfull Waterproof Video Camera. As you can gather from the title, the thing will survive water. The camera is water resistant enough to be submerged for underwater recording. Kodak says the camera can survive at up to 10-feet deep. The camera is compact and records to SD/SDHC memory cards.
Kodak has just announced its latest EasyShare digital camera called the EasyShare Touch M5370. It has much of the same specs as the original EasyShare Touch with plenty of ways to tag and share photos via social networks, but now sports a 16-megapixel sensor capable of capturing 720p HD video.
Kodak has unveiled its Hero series of all-in-one printers that can print from the cloud. Forget about the hassle of hooking up your computer or laptop to the printer via cable or your home WiFi. Kodak's Hero printers allow you to connect and print from any internet-enabled device, from anywhere in the world.
Kodak will be releasing a special Burton edition of their rugged PLAYSPORT Zx5 pocket video camera designed for people that love snow. It's touted as being touch enough to meet the demands of even the most dedicated snow boarders, capturing all the best moments of the day on the slopes in even the harshest winter weather conditions.
Kodak has announced its new addition to the All-in-one Inkjet Printer line, the ESP Office 2170 AiO printer. Like many new printers the Office 2170 will do away with cables as it can connect to your wireless network and it multifunctions to scan, fax, and copy. But it adds to that some features that sound cool, but you may seldom use, including the option to print direct from your mobile devices, print from video, and print 3D photos.
Kodak is seeking more than $1 billion in royalties from electronics giants Apple and RIM over a patent in digital camera technology the companies employ in the cameras of their mobile devices. The International Trade Commission is going to announce whether it will review an ITC judge’s earlier decision that ruled in favor of Apple and RIM and said that the companies did not violate patents.
This is not a good time to be a Kodak shareholder. They've just posted their full-year 2010 revenue report. They had total sales of $7.187 billion, a 6% drop from 2009. Traditional revenue was down 22%, year over year, to $1.767 billion. Kodak lost a total of $58 million in the last year, $0.22 per share. This is better than 2009, when they lost $174 million, but hardly cause for wild celebration.