Apple and Google may be set to form an unlikely partnership in order to acquire Kodak's numerous imaging patents.
Bloomberg sources have claimed the companies have abandoned separate bids to acquire the 1,100 patents belonging to the financially troubled Kodak, subsequently teaming up with a $500 million bid.
Apple and Google were each leading separate consortiums to purchase the patents in questions for a price ranging from $150 million to $250 million.
Kodak, which had filed for bankruptcy protection back in January, is required to sell the patents in order to help pay a $950 million loan from Citigroup. The company expects to exit bankruptcy in 2013, while court documents had revealed that the firm valued its patent portfolio at around $2.6 billion.
Google had recently stressed that it's baffled by Apple's decision to sue Android partners instead of directly suing the search engine giant itself.
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Zak Islam is a freelance writer focusing on security, networking, and general computing. His work also appears at Digital Trends and Tom's Guide.
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Gundam288 Did they also make a offer for a nuclear reactor as well?Reply
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Kodak-Nuclear-Reactor-New-York-Rochester-Uranium,news-15200.html -
COLGeek This new business model achieves to maximize profits through litigation. Impact to users is likely minimal, but other businesses should beware.Reply -
COLGeek On topic? The issue are patent licenses already in use. I would expect those licensing costs to rise or to not be made available to increase a competitive edge. The issue is not what Apple/Google would do with them themselves, rather how the patents will be used against others.Reply -
robochump COLGeekOn topic? The issue are patent licenses already in use. I would expect those licensing costs to rise or to not be made available to increase a competitive edge. The issue is not what Apple/Google would do with them themselves, rather how the patents will be used against others.Reply
As long as Samsung doesn't get their mitts on any of the patents. -
dgingeri Either company has the money to buy them outright for the $2.6 billion Kodak says they're worth. Why are they bothering to team up to spend what amounts to them as pocket change?Reply -
dgingeri COLGeekThis new business model achieves to maximize profits through litigation. Impact to users is likely minimal, but other businesses should beware.Reply
impact to users is always more than minimal when a company loses money. The people who buy the products have to spend more because of it. If the extra costs are on both sides, as is the case with the Apple/Samsung situation, then the users have no choices but to spend more on one side or the other, unless they just have no use for either. Sure, my Mom isn't going to lose money over it, but I sure am.