Kodak Vs. Sony

1
Kodak Vs. Sony

• Patent Engineering
• Lauren Kling
• Kourosh Zamanizadeh

2
Kodaks Court Battles
VS.

• In the industrial technology wars Kodak has
  mainly be a defendant, not plaintiff
• 15 Year battle with Polaroid
• 925 million to settle a patent-infringement case
  involving peel-apart instant films
• Learned from their mistakes

3
Kodaks Background

• Until recently Kodak was neither willing to
  license its technology, nor determined to protect
  it
• "We've invested millions of dollars in developing
  these technologies and we have an obligation not
  only to our shareholders but to other licensees
  to protect that property Kodak Representative
  
• Kodak invented the first digital camera in the
  mid-1970's and holds nearly 1,000 patents related
  to digital photography.

4
VS.
- Over three years of negotiations - Kodak
charged Sony with infringing on 10 patents
- Patents were issued from 1987 to 2003.
- The patents covered various aspects of
capturing, storing and displaying both still and
moving digital images.
5
Technology

• patents covering CMOS (complementary metal-oxide
  semiconductors) and CCD (charge-coupled device)
  image sensors, as well as emerging technologies
  such as cell phone cameras.
• inventions in an electronic camera utilizing
  image compression and digital storage
• inventions in an electronic camera providing
  multi-format storage of full and reduced
  resolution images

6
Four of the key patents involved in the case
1) 5,016,107 Electronic still camera utilizing
image compression and digital storage 2)
5,477,264 Electronic imaging system using a
removable software-enhanced storage
device 3) 5,164,831 Electronic still
camera providing multi-format storage of full and
reduced resolution images 4) 5,493,335
Single sensor color camera with user selectable
image record size
7
Kodaks Strategy

• looking for ways to turn its technologies into
  revenues without compromising its competitive
  position
• I don't think commercializing patents is an
  important part of their revenue story, but
  protecting their intellectual property will be a
  major part of their success in the digital
  photography market,'' said David R. Giroux, an
  investment analyst

8
Result of Litigation

• Kodak and Sony, agreed on a cross-licensing
  agreement that would allow each manufacturer
  access to each others patents. January 4,
  2007
• Kodak declined to offer speculations of future
  products the manufacturers might produce
• Royalties will be paid to Kodak, 250M royalties
  2007
• probably looking to get license revenue from
  other camera makers as well i.e. Olympus, Sanyo