eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
The ITC has agreed to investigate the suit that Apple filed against camera-maker Kodak April 15. Filed in a U.S. District Court in California, the suit alleges that Kodak products in the Z, M, and C camera series infringe on patents owned by Apple, according to Apple Insider.
The Apple suit was filed in response to a suit Kodak filed against Apple, as well as Research In Motion, in a District Court in New York in January, alleging that its patents related to previewing digital images are being infringed upon.
“In the case of Apple and RIM, we’ve had discussions for years with both companies in an attempt to resolve this issue amicably, and we have not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement,” Laura Quatela, Kodak’s chief intellectual property officer, said in a statement at the time. “In light of that, we are taking this action to ensure that we protect the interests of our shareholders and the existing licensees of our technology.”
In February, the ITC likewise agreed to investigate Kodak’s request and “decide whether to block the import and sale of products from both companies, including Apple’s iPhone,” Apple Insider reported.
No stranger to patent-infringement suits, Apple filed such a suit against Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC in March. “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs stated on the Apple site March 2.
On May 12, HTC responded with a suit of its own, requesting that the International Trade Commission ban Apple from selling the iPhone, iPad and iPod in the United States, as features in these devices allegedly infringe on HTC patents.
And without doubt, legal teams at Apple and Nokia have come to know each other well, as the two have traded patent-infringement allegations since October 2009, when Nokia first alleged that the iPhone infringes on 10 Nokia patents related to GSM, UMTS and WLAN standards.
In the latest incarnation of Nokia v. Apple, Nokia filed a May 7 complaint alleging that the Apple iPhone and the iPad violate five Nokia patents. In a statement about the complaint, Nokia explained that the patents are related to “technologies for enhanced speech and data transmission, using positioning data in applications, and innovations in antenna configurations that improve performance and save space, allowing [for] smaller and more compact devices.”