Kodak Wins $1 Billion Victory Against Apple

A picture may be worth a 1000 words, nevertheless for Eastman Kodak the preview of a picture might be worth $1 billion in a patent battle against Apple and Innovation in Motion. The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday agreed to review a claim that Apple and RIM devices infringe on a Kodak patent for image previewing.

ITC judge sided with Apple

In January an ITC judge sided with Apple and RIM, however Kodak is hoping the ITC will reconsider the individual judge's decision and potentially put royalty negotiations worth $1 billion back on the table.

The patent involves previewing a low-resolution version of an image during recording a high resolution version to save processing power. According to Bloomberg, Kodak generated $838 million from patents last year and claims patent is used in "every digital camera and phone with a camera."

The ITC sides against Apple

If the ITC sides against Apple and RIM, it would most likely mean that the two companies would settle with Kodak to put it more exactly than dropping camera feature from upcoming phones or staying out of the U.S. market. In that case, the outcome would be virtually unnoticed by consumers.

It wouldn't be the first time things swayed in favor of Kodak's favor. In 2009 the ITC ruled that Samsung and LG phones infringed on the same patent and resulted in $964 million in settlements.