Back in January, Kodak filed suit against Apple and RIM over the way those company’s mobile devices handle image previews in their cameras. Kodak also took its case to the United States’ International Trade Commission, hoping to get a faster ruling that would bar the companies from importing allegedly infringing technology into the United States. Now, Apple has fired back, launching its own countersuit in the northern district of California claiming that Kodak products violate two Apple digital imaging patents.
The Apple patents in question are U.S. patent 6,031,964 and RE38,911, which Apple applied for in 1996 and 2001, respectively. Apple was actually one of the first companies to market digital cameras, launching its QuickTake 100—with a whopping 640 by 480 resolution—in 1994. Kodak actually built the original QuickTake 100 and 150.
Neither Apple nor Kodak have commented publicly on the countersuit.
