In what looks like an attempt to tell the world that Kodak has value somewhere, Kodak has looked on Apple and HTC to get their legal guns out over patents once more.

Kodak fall from grace:

With talk of Kodak filing for bankruptcy protection last week, news that the NYSE was looking to delist the 130 year old company for trading with a value under $1 per share for so long comes as a surprise to many.

The Rochester based imaging giant has taken a fall from grace over recent years, and is looking to take a leaf out of Apples love of litigation.

The base of the claims lie with Kodak believing that both HTC and Apple are infringing some of their patents related to digital imaging, and more specifically image transmission and preview, with specific devices being pinpointed for the infringement, these include the Apple iPad, iPhones and iPods with HTC smartphones and tablets also infringing four of the key patents.

HTC also accused of the same Apple and RIM patent issues:

An ongoing two year old issue related to “image-preview” patents, and technology owned by Kodak, has now seen HTC included in the mix.

The lawsuits which were filed on Tuesday, I feel aim to highlight that the flailing Kodak Corp still has some residual value, in a bid to bump share prices up a little and make the world feel like nothing is wrong at the bad ship Kodak, the truth being far from this.

Kodak share price plummets over 12 years:

Kodak has seen its share price plummet in the last few years, and now currently sells shares at less than $1 each on average for the last month, from a much mightier $66 only 12 years ago, indeed only last week, news of the bankruptcy filing, sent Kodak shares down to a new record low of some $.36 each.

With an overall loss of 99% of market value in 12 years, that is one bad decade for Kodak.

Kodak share hike saves them getting delisted from NYSE:

Indeed only this week Kodak saw a much needed price hike sending shares closer to $1 for the first time in a long while, all on the back of an admission that they need to restructure and cut costs, but also perhaps on the back of threats from the New York Stock Exchange who have warned that Kodak’s shares will be ‘delisted’, or dropped, unless they stop looking so sickly.

If Kodak do indeed go under this year, we have provided a nice graphic for you to take a look at the once mighty company prior to their unfortunate demise.

Click here for History Of Kodak Infographic.

Talks of licensing deals worth over $1 billion are still ongoing with Apple and RIM so we will keep you posted on news related to this area.

What do you think of Kodak going under this year? Likely or unlikely?

Have Kodak hit hard times and accepted that the show is over as bankruptcy looms:

Did you know that Kodak actually invented the Worlds first digital camera in 1975.

So, with Kodak having a huge list of “firsts” under their belt, it is rather a sad day when an originally innovative company such as Kodak, who had such global weight in the technology and imaging sector, looks like it will decide to file for bankruptcy as it can not compete in any of the territories it currently operates in, and in some cases dominated. Believing that Chapter 11 Bankruptcy is the way forward.

This type of bankruptcy gives a corporation some time to continue trading and hopefully find a rescue package while benefiting from certain bankruptcy rules that normally apply.

Kodak sell off patents:

When you are a 131 year old company with Kodak’s pedigree (albeit somewhat off kilter of recent years) you are likely to have some pretty juicy patents in the cupboard, and Kodak are well and truly in the market for selling some of these off.

With a rumored 1,100 patents Kodak are wanting to claw back some cash in the run up to the expected bankruptcy filing, and are hoping that they can then obtain a $1 billion package that will aid their operational requirements while they are going through the bankruptcy proceedings, with an unknown outcome at the end of this process.

Kodak bankruptcy will mean job losses?

With Kodak currently employing some 19,000 + people globally, many will be worried that this news could signal the death of the company that pays their wages in the coming months.

In a rather sombre note, Mr Eastman the Kodak founder took his own life aged 77 saying:

“To my friends, my work is done. Why wait?”

I wonder if his legacy will see Kodak the company see the same fate, or, if the raising of capital after the sale of patents and a rally for cash, will be enough to look into keeping other areas alive that Kodak operate in, though these look decidedly scary from an investors view.

With Kodak recently deciding to focus on the printer market and only managing to achieve just short of 3% market share in the months up to the end of 2011, what do you think Kodak should do?

Kodak’s Illustrious past:

Here is an infographic list of Kodak Historic Milestones achieved in their 130+ years of trading so far.

Is it likely they will find a buyer for the company while under chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, or will they slowly let the company die, while salvaging as much cash from the sale of patents on the way?

There is no excuse whatsoever for robbing a perfectly innocent person of his mobile phone, but of all the people to mug, one of the last people you would hope to pick would be a friend of the ruling class.

Such was the bad luck and stupidity of this particular scumbag.

Though this unfortunate mugging seems to be less about the fact that the “family” will hung, draw and quarter you for messing with their pals, and more to do with the fact that Prince Harry takes no s***, and was apparently on the hunt for his friend in the wee hours of the morning after being engaged in conversation with Mr van Straubenzee when he got mugged for his Blackberry phone.

As a result of this high profile man hunt (less for the man being hunted and more for the hunter), Harry now appears to be one of the first high profile royals to actually walk into a police station like an everyday guy and report a crime, after he was unsuccessful in finding his mugged friend.

A police source is quoted saying:

Prince Harry came into the station to give a statement. It was a separate statement from the one given by his friend who was mugged.’

It appears that a man was arrested earlier in the month (1st Dec) and has been released on bail to attend a court hearing in the new year.

Battersea is seen as good target for wealthy residents:

With South London being gentrified in many areas over the last 15 or so years, the area is also home to some of London’s toughest and most deprived estates, this close relationship of haves and have not’s has lead to a series of high profile muggings in the last few years. Only this year in February, a former aide to the Queen Mother, Niall Hall, was kidnapped after having his car carjacked by a gang who then stripped him naked and ran knives along his body, and only last month Richard Ward, 37, died from head injuries after being attacked by a gang, in an apparently unprovoked incident, once again highlighting the lack of respect many young people have for human life in Britain’s inner cities.

It seems that Samsung are under fire from Apple in so may territories and countries that the South Korean smartphone and tablet manufacturer can not even begin to stand up before the Apple legal team come knocking!

10 countries and 4 continents:

Yes Samsung are currently at loggerheads with Apples legal team in 10 countries in 4 continents and this includes huge wealthy territories such as Germany, UK, US, France, Japan, Australia and South Korea.

Good news at last?

Are Samsung out of the legal mire?

Additionally to potentially good news for Samsung which we reported yesterday, where the Australian federal court had ruled that a prior ban on the sale of the galaxy tab was incorrect, it seems that Samsung may have won a benchmark ruling in the US also.

A court in California has ruled that the bid to block the Galaxy tab and Galaxy smartphone from being sold is not going to be upheld.

Judge Lucy Koh said:

“It is not clear that an injunction on Samsung’s accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed. Indeed, given the evidence Samsung presented, it seems likely that a major beneficiary of an injunction would be other smartphone manufacturers.”

The preliminary injunction which would force Samsung to remove their Galaxy products from sale was deemed to be an excessive and extraordinary measure to take at this stage.

The lawsuit started in April and surrounds three design and one software patent that Apple disputed. This ruling may not see Samsung win the cases it is currently involved in, but may see a halt to the “guilty before verdict” precedents that seem to have been set in many areas.

After reporting about the U-turn the other day, news in has confirmed that the FCC has granted approval for the withdrawal of AT&T’s $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA.

Not without drama, it appears that two public bodies going by the names of “Public Knowledge” and “Media Access Project” both asked for the documents related to the deal to be published, this was in order to prevent AT&T from revoking its application.

This however did not stop the decision being made.

AT&T to focus on law suit:

When AT&T informed people that they were looking to withdraw from the purchase of T-Mobile USA people wanted to know why.

The reason given is that they are looking to focus on a law suit brought against them by the Department of Justice.

This issue is likely to see a February start in the courts, and once competed, and should AT&T win, it is thought that they will pick up where they left off and reapply for the takeover of T-Mobile USA.

Meanwhile both Media Access Project and Public Knowledge argue that AT&T will have “unfairly exhausted the resources of it’s competitors” by this time.

Yes the litigation season sees no end in the tech world.

We will keep you up to date with the goings on between these two companies as and when news occurs.

Samsung bowed down to a court ruling related to the sale of their popular tablet in Germany after a ruling many weeks ago declared that the tablet was rather too close to the Apple iPad, the result of which has meant that the South Korean firm have gone away and after withdrawing their tablet from this huge market, have now come back with a revised design that has an altered metal frame and a shift of speaker position to counteract copycat claims.

New Galaxy tab specifically for Germany:

The new design will be released to Germans on the 21st November just in time for Christmas and should allow Samsung a chance to gain a little more traction with their otherwise popular Galaxy tablet in the biggest European marketplace.

Samsung fight back:

The legal landscape between Apple and Samsung sees many cases being fought between the firms, it has all got really rather messy in the smartphone and tablet arena for the two tech giants.

Samsung have retaliated heavily with an attempt to ban the iPhone 4 from sale in France, Italy, Germany and Australia. A hearing in Paris due on the 18th of November will show if Samsung will have one up on Apple in time for the festive period after being shut out of Germany for so long with their Galaxy tab.

Apple involved with many lawsuits:

Samsung is not the only company involved in disputes with Apples legal team, though their are currently around 30 cases between the two firms globally.

Nokia, Microsoft, and HTC are also Involved in litigation with Samsung with Microsoft, Nokia and HTC challenging Apple over over the use of the term “app store”.

We expect a fair bit more of this type of tit for tat to occur as technology looks more and more similar month by month, any pressure put on manufacturers to delay release dates or recall already released models significantly affects a model’s chances of getting traction prior to a new release by a competitor, so this legal “game” is pretty much par for the course now in the fast moving mobile tech world.

Google has splashed out an undisclosed amount on around 1000 patents from IBM as Google attempts to create a patent portfolio that will help mitigate further legal battles that have caused concerns over their Android operating system among other things.

“Like many tech companies, at times we’ll acquire patents that are relevant to our business needs,”

“Bad software patent litigation is a wasteful war that no one will win.”

Google records 1030 patents bought in mid-July

So what have Google gone and bought?

The patents seem to range from microprocessors to memory architecture, incorporating servers and routers, so a mixed bag of technical tricks.

Google bid $900 million for Nortel patents:

In an audacious move in April 2011 Google put a bid in for 6000 of Nortel’s patents and apparently offered a stupidly high figure of $900 million. This would have given them legal rights to many patents that could help them to stave litigation in the future and put them in very strong legal standings moving forward as they have done into manufacturing and software.

Google making sure it does not lose out a second time:

Google however missed out on the chance to obtain the 6,000 patents owned by the Canadian company Nortel.

The winners of that particular sale were a consortium that contained tech giants such as Microsoft, Apple, EMC, RIM, Sony and Ericsson.

And the amount paid for these patents was a massive $4.5 billion.

Google currently being sued

We have already discussed many of Google’s current legal battles, and they are not the only tech companies that are involved in high end litigation regarding manufacturing and software.

Google Versus Oracle

In an earlier report we covered the ongoing legal battle between Oracle and Google over the Android operating system.

This battle is far from over. Though from cursory observation it appears that the damage will not be as severe as Google had feared initially, or indeed as heavy as Oracle would have liked, but the case is far from over.

Time will tell who will be the winners and losers out of all this litigation. One thing for sure is that the legal teams for the companies concerned are certainly rubbing their hands together…and they will be hoping that the magic dust does not settle any time soon, I am sure.

Apple app store legal battle: Are you confused yet?

We have already reported that Apple were in litigation with Amazon over the use of their own “App store”. The judge presiding over the case does however actually agree with Apple that the term “App Store” is not actually a generic term, as both Microsoft and Amazon have claimed. However, the real legal issue is related to a “likelihood of confusion” and the judge in this case has stated that the term “App Store” did not meet the required “likelihood of confusion” provision necessary to validate an immediate injunction against its use…note the term “immediate” however, time will tell what may happen in the future.

Apples new battle with GetJar a battle too far?

It would appear that Apple really do feel that they have some god given right to the term. They have cited earlier marketing efforts and huge expenditure as a reason to justify such claims be upheld and as a rational man I can understand them wanting to at least try to defend a term that does have a huge correlation to Apple. Though the truth is the claim can never really hold up currently as the term “App Store” is not a trademark, despite efforts to secure this by Apple.

Claiming that punters would get confused by the Amazon App Store and Apples App store for instance is just condescending to owners of mobile devices, surely?

GetJar still telling Apple to stick it up their Apps:

On a recent blog post GetJar have basically told Apple to sod off. And goes on to inform the reader that they stick by their position as they are not really competing with Apple, but are more like an affiliate who push visitors to the Apple App Store anyway.

I suppose Apple would say that they are pushing people to the Android market also, but without a trademark to the term App Store how can Apple get way with such a request and except this to be acted upon?

GetJar state that they have been running since 2005 (before the release of the iPhone) and that they have been operating while using the term “App store” since 2009 without any problems…..i.e Apple were very happy for GetJar to initially push their own applications before the release of competitor apps.

Apple lose face with too many Legal battles?

We reported the other week that it appeared that Apple were in a legal frenzy currently, with rifts between manufacturers, retailers, and god knows who else. Is Apple in danger of looking a bit like a sacred millionaire who has built his castle but now fears anyone who comes close to admire it?

Getjar Facebook group to help developers deal with Apple:

GetJar has now started a Facebook group called “The Open and Free App Movement,” and is aimed at helping developers understand and organise their efforts related to Apple when Apple send legal threats and people are unsure what to do and perhaps need some advice from their peers….they are quoted as saying; “people are sick of this crap”.

What do you think of Apples current legal battles, are they justified or do you think the are muddying Apples name?