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Kodak may be in trouble financially, but that hasn’t stopped its court activity, as it has just filed new lawsuits against Apple and HTC claiming infringement against Kodak’s digital imaging patents.
the camera-maker already has an existing lawsuit against Apple, but today’s filing brings four new claims into the mix. In the suit, Kodak names the iPad 2, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and the iPod touch (4th generation) as infringing (this pretty much covers all of Apple’s devices that have cameras). the four patents address transmitting digital images over a variety of communication services.
the complaint against HTC includes the four patents levied against Apple, but also adds a fifth patent that appears to be related to grabbing still images from a video clip. Kodak lists the HTC EVO View 4G, Flyer, Jetstream, Vivid, Amaze 4G, Desire, EVO Design 4G, Hero S, Rezound, Rhyme, Sensation 4G, and the Wildfire S as infringing, but notes that its complaint is not limited to those devices. Notably absent are any Windows Phone models that HTC produces.
Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents speculates that Kodak has filed these new lawsuits in order to garner attention for its patent portfolio, which it has been trying to find a buyer for. If it shows that it has valuable patents that can be used against device makers, it could have a better chance at selling the suite. so far, that strategy has not quite worked out as Kodak has hoped.