Kodak patent case against Apple, RIM dismissed
Kodak has lost a potentially valuable patent infringement case against Apple and Research In Motion (RIM), after the International Trade Council dismissed the case.
(Credit: Kodak)
The case was initially filed in 2010, and claimed that Apple and RIM cameras violated a patent describing previewing an image before the photo is captured. According to The Wall Street Journal, the International Trade Commission dismissed the complaint and said that the patent was invalid.
Kodak has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US, and discontinued its camera business this year. The photographic manufacturer has also filed a number of other patent infringement suits against companies such as HTC, in an attempt to raise funds needed to restructure the company.
Latest comments (Add your comment)
It sounds like Kodak managed to patent the very notion of a digital preview rather than looking through a lens. Since Kodak did not invent the LCD, or the digital camera, just the notion of plugging the two together, if I were the judge I would throw it out too.
That is almost as silly as trying to patent the idea of gluing a coffee maker and digital clock.
If Kodak had its way someone could equally well patent plugging in a microphone, view screen, headphone, keyboard, mouse, aux disk to anything else. Patents are supposed to reward innovation, not doing the obvious.