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Bankruptcy Judge Allows Kodak Patent Sale
A Manhattan Bankruptcy judge has given Kodak Eastman permission to sell two key patents which will give the troubled company the opportunity to expedite bankruptcy.
When the over a hundred year old America company filed for Chapter 11, selling off patents, worth roughly $2.6 billion, was one their goals to return the company to solvency, but patent disputes with Apple has tied up the proceedings. Most of the proceeds from the patents and assets will go to the Kodak’s creditors.
Apple and Kodak worked on patents ‘335 and ‘218 in 1990 together so Apple moved to block the sale of those two patents. But the bankruptcy judge just gave them permission to sell two patents which are considered to the most important of the 1,100 patents they hold.
However, Judge Allan Groper said that he needed more time to review their petitions to several other patents.
An auction for two groups of patents will be conducted on August 8th, the bids were by July 30th.
Apple and Research in Motion still have patent disputes. And Kodak recently lost an appeal with the U.S. International Trade Commission which could impede the August auction.
With the onset of the digital camera revolution, Kodak which generated most of its income from film sales began to flounder. Like many businesses and individuals their only hope to save their company was to enlist the help of a bankruptcy attorney and enter a debt-relief plan.
