Back in January, it was looking like Kodak’s outstanding camera patent lawsuit against BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion and Apple was on its way out the door empty-handed, but the fight’s not over yet. The International Trade Commission has pledged to review Kodak’s case, which has already earned them $550 million from Samsung and $414 million from LG. Kodak’s CEO Antonio Perez says they could win over $1 billion in royalties from RIM and Apple should the ITC’s review go through.
The patents in question revolve around image previews – the thumbnails you see in native gallery apps, or after you take a picture, for example. This particular court battle has been going on for a little over a year now. Usually, these cases threaten a stop on sales of infringing devices, but it rarely comes to that; either the plaintiff gets their royalties, or the manufacturer successfully defends their technology.
Samsung and LG have already shown that Kodak’s complaints have some legitimacy in the eyes of the law, but so far RIM and Apple have held their ground. A ruling one way or the other from the ITC is expected on May 23, so we’ll keep an eye out.