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Apple Loses Bid to Move Kodak Fight Out of Bankruptcy Court

A Manhattan judge this week denied Apple's request to transfer its Kodak patent case out of bankruptcy court, which could have slowed the photography company's plans to sell its technology.

July 27, 2012

A Manhattan judge this week denied Apple's request to transfer its Kodak patent case out of bankruptcy court, which could have slowed the photography company's plans to sell its technology.

Last month, to own 10 patents that were born out of work the companies did together in the early 1990s, and that Cupertino is purposefully trying to "delay and derail" Kodak's patent portfolio auction.

FlashPoint has also claimed partial ownership since the company worked with Apple in 1996.

Apple took the case to U.S. District Judge George Daniels and asked that he take over the dispute instead of the bankruptcy judge, Reuters reported. According to Apple lawyer Gregory Arovas, the case involves "substantive patent law" that would be better addressed by a federal district judge. Daniels declined, agreeing with Kodak that the case should remain in bankruptcy court, Reuters said.

Bankruptcy judge Allan Gropper deserves "an opportunity to render a decision on the motion and to have an opportunity to control and move forward the process," Daniels ruled, according to Reuters.

Kodak spokesman Chris Veronda said in a statement that the company is happy with the District Court's decision to deny Apple and FlashPoint.

"[We are pleased] that the Court believes an undisrupted, efficient auction process under the supervision of the Bankruptcy Court is appropriate," he said. "Our work continues toward a successful auction next month."

Kodak expects to kick off its – 700 related to digital camera LCD viewfinders, 400 for image capture and manipulation, plus network-based services – in early August. The winning bidder will receive an order of the Bankruptcy Court for protection against possible future third-party ownership claims.

Kodak, which in January, said it made $3 billion since 2001 by licensing the patents to 37 firms.

Apple and Kodak have been battling since 2010, when Eastman Kodak sued Apple and RIM for infringing on its image-previewing patent with smartphone camera apps. Last week, the U.S. International Trade Commission when it found that the patent was invalid.