Trade commission revives Kodak complaint against Apple

Late in the day, in a blow to Apple, the commission said it has decided to review an previously decision that found that Apple and Innovation In Motion did not infringe Kodak patents in their smartphones. The initial decision, which is the ITC's first step afterwards it decides to investigate a complaint, was issued in January by an administrative law judge.

The commission will now review that decision

The commission will now review that decision and may rule that Apple and RIM do infringe the relevant patents. If the commission does decide that they infringe, it can order RIM and Apple to stop importing the relevant products, which would include the iPhone, into the U.S.

Earlier this week, Kodak's CEO was quoted as saying that if his company won this battle, it would expect to earn US$1 billion in royalty revenue from Apple and RIM. It is not clear over what timeframe Kodak expects to bring in that revenue.

The number-one phone maker in the world

While Nokia is however the number-one phone maker in the world and has a deep patent portfolio, Apple has managed to put its iPhone in the spotlight among smartphones. The legal arguments between the companies highlight their battle for share of the market and consumers' minds.

Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com