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Google and Apple Emerge As Lead Bidders for Kodak Patents
Published on:
Google and Apple are the unsurprising front runners in the battle to buy some 1,100 patents put up for sale by bankrupt Eastman Kodak, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Citing people familiar with the sale, the two companies are leading two rival bidding groups for the patents, which include several patents vital to digital photography.
Apple is reported to have teamed up with Microsoft and patent licensing group, Intellectual Ventures Management -- while Google is said to be working with Samsung, HTC, LG and the patent licensing group, RPX Corp.
Kodak has said that it expects to earn as much as US$2.6 billion from selling the patents and the auction is set to start next week. The sale is for two blocks, one includes patents relating to a range of image processing techniques. However the other block contains all the patents covering mobile technologies and is likely to be the one the bidders are most interested in aquiring.
Over the past decade, Kodak says that it has generated more than $3 billion from licensing its digital imaging portfolio to companies such as Samsung, LG, Motorola, and Nokia, and is currently pursuing patent litigation against alleged infringers that include Apple, RIM, and HTC.
Over the past 12 months, Kodak's financial advisor, Lazard, has conducted a marketing process for these assets. To date, 20 parties have signed confidentiality agreements and have been provided access to an electronic data room.
On the web: Wall Street Journal
Tags: [google] [kodak] [apple] [USA]
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