Judge sides with Kodak in Apple patent case

A judge at the US International Trade Commission has ruled that Eastman Kodak did not infringe on Apple's patented camera technology.

The decision is the latest in an ongoing war of litigation between the companies that has now seen rulings in favour of both parties. The judge's decision relates to Apple's countersuit, filed in April 2010, which accuses the film and imaging company of violating two of Apple's digital photography patents. The International Trade Commission's (ITC) full decision on whether it will uphold the administrative law judge's ruling is expected on 19 September, according to a Reuters report on Thursday.

"We're pleased by the ruling and we are looking forward to the full ITC ruling in our case against Apple and RIM, which is expected in late June," a spokesman for the company told ZDNet UK on Friday.

Kodak filed its original complaint against Apple and RIM in January 2010, alleging that the two smartphone manufacturers infringed on its patents for colour-image previewing and processing, and digital-camera and computer-process technology.

The ITC's initial finding in the case sided with Apple, with a judge ruling that Kodak's infringement claims were invalid.

However, Kodak's general counsel, Laura Quatela, said at the time that it "fully expects the [Commission] will ultimately rule that the patent claim at issue is valid and infringed by Apple and RIM".

Prior to filing the suit, Kodak said it had tried to resolve the situation through discussions that took place over a period of years.

In December 2009, Kodak announced that it had reached royalty-bearing cross-licensing agreements with Samsung and LG over similar patent-infringement claims filed in November 2008.

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