Kodak agreed to sell its patent portfolio for $525 million to a consortium of companies that include Apple, Facebook and Google, according to reports.
Kodak will use the money to pay off its bankruptcy debt, if it is approved by the bankruptcy court, according TechCrunch. The group of companies include 12 licensees which all paid a portion of the $525 million.
The licensees:
- Apple, Inc.
- Research In Motion Limited
- Google Inc.
- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
- Adobe Systems Incorporated
- HTC Corporation
- Facebook, Inc
- Fujifilm Corporation
- Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
- Amazon Fulfillment Services, Inc.
- Shutterfly, Inc.
- Microsoft Corporation
Looking at the list may make some readers scratch their heads. Aren't these some of the same companies that are suing one another in court over patents? Yes, but because patent suits are long, expensive and may not be resolved in one company's favor, companies are taking the consortium approach with minimal cost. A full-scale bidding war could have inflated the value into the billions.
Could this be the end to acrimonious patent infringement cases and so-called patent trolls? One can only hope.
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