Eastman Kodak announced on Tuesday that it has filed complaints alleging patent infringement against LG and Samsung in both the United States District Court for the Western District of New York and the US International Trade Commission. The disputed patents involve technology related to image capture, compression and data storage and a method for previewing motion images. The complainant asks for compensation for damages resulting from the alleged infringement, though the the amount of damages was not disclosed. Kodak also seeks injunctions to prohibit Samsung and LG from subsequent importation and sale of products, believed to be the Samsung Blackjack II and the LG Dare, cited in the complaints. Both Samsung and LG will fight the patent infringement allegations with LG’s spokesman Choi Jun-hyuk saying, “Our digital-camera technology is different from the one used by Kodak. We haven’t infringed upon Kodak’s related patents.” That makes it pretty clear LG is not going to lay down, roll over and hand Kodak a big wad of cash. It looks like we have another Battle Royale brewing over emerging technologies, though this time it’s not CDMA chip sets but diminutive camera phones that are caught in the legal cross hairs. We will have to keep our eye on this to see if it is just a bunch of posturing by big companies in order to negotiate a settlement and sign licensing agreements, or if these filings will indeed trickle down and have an effect on consumer camera phone availability.
[Via CNN Money]
