ITC delays ruling in Kodak case against Apple and RIM

Kodak will have to wait another two months to find out whether Apple and RIM have infringed on its image capture patents as the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has postponed its final decision.

The ITC determined that Kodak's patent needs to be re-examined by an administrative law judge (ALJ) and expects to make a final decision on 30 August.

In a partial ruling the ITC noted that the "Apple iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 do not literally infringe the asserted claim in their non-flash-photography modes of operation", suggesting that Apple may escape legal sanctions.

Kodak had been expecting Apple and RIM to pay around $1bn in licensing fees to use the technology. But it faces an uphill battle to get a payment of this amount, according to Florian Mueller, a software patents specialist.

"The commission will leave it to the ALJ to decide whether the relevant patent claim is valid. If the ALJ once again concludes that it's invalid, Kodak loses," he wrote on the Foss Patents blog.

"Only the infringement of a valid patent is legally relevant. If the ITC had definitively reaffirmed the judge's determination of invalidity, that would have resulted in a definitive and immediate decision against Kodak's complaint."

A settlement between the parties now appears a more likely option and could result in Apple and RIM paying a tiny fraction of the billion-dollar figures Kodak wants, Mueller argued.

"This way Kodak would at least get some cash to finance its restructuring while Apple and RIM could eliminate the risk of losing," he added.

Kodak originally filed a complaint with the ITC in January 2010, claiming that the iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry devices were unlawfully using technology to preview images on digital cameras.

Kodak already licenses patents to high-end mobile manufacturers, including LG, Motorola, Nokia and Samsung.

Despite losing the first round of the case in January 2011, Kodak said that it remained confident of prevailing in the patent dispute.

The legal battle represents just one of a number of high-profile disputes mobile phone manufacturers are facing. Apple is currently battling Samsung and recently shelled out $420m to Nokia over a patent dispute.