Samsung and Kodak Reach Patent Settlement

By Geoff Duncan December 23, 2009

Samsung Omnia II smartphone from Verizon Wireless — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Last week, the U.S. International Trade Commission issued a preliminary ruling that South Korea’s Samsung had infringed on two Kodak patents in its cameraphones; now the companies have announced that they have reached a settlement on the matter, which has Samsung paying an undisclosed amount of money to Kodak.

Kodak never named the Samsung products that it believed infringed on its patents; however, the complaint before the ITC originally claimed both Samsung and South Korea’s LG Electronics infringed on Kodak patents covering image compression, data storage, image preview, and image capture technologies. However, LG and Kodak reached a separate settlement on the matter as part of the a broader deal that included Kodak selling its OLED business to LG. Financial terms of Kodak’s deal with LG weren’t disclosed, although Kodak wil be earning royalties from the arrangement: Kodak also agreed to drop its case before the ITC as part of a patent cross-licensing deal.

In its settlement with Samsung, Kodak will collect an unspecified amount of cash from the South Korean electronics giant this year; the companies have also agreed to work on a technology licensing deal. No Samsung products will be pulled off the market as the result of the litigation or the settlement.

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