Bidding started yesterday on the patents.
Quote:
Kodak has put up for sale some 1,100 patents, the most valuable of which relate to digital-photo technology. The company, which earlier this year filed for bankruptcy protection in Manhattan, is hoping that the proceeds of the sale help vault it out of bankruptcy. The company has said the entire portfolio could be worth as much as $2.6 billion.
Initial bids for the portfolio are due later today.
The battle lines are forming. Apple is teaming up with Microsoft Corp.and patent aggregation firm Intellectual Ventures Management LLC to form one bidding group. The other consortium is likely to include Google, patent aggregation firm RPX Corp., and three hardware companies that make phones based on Google’s Android operating system: Samsung, LG Electronics andand HTC Corp.
The lineups show that the divisions are blurring between big technology companies and patent aggregators, which accumulate troves of patents and put them to use primarily in suits and licensing negotiations rather than products.
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