The iPhone seems to be up to its ears in legal battles these days. Already under assault from all sides by Nokia in an ongoing, bitter legal battle, today the iPhone and the second most popular cell phone in the world – the Blackberry – find themselves being prosecuted by photo specialists Kodak.
Kodak allege that the two have breached numerous patents in the construction of the two popular handsets, with the specifics revolving around the process for previewing photographs and issues in the transfer of data between the phone’s camera and computer software. Like Nokia, Kodak stated in their press release that they have been in long-term discussions with the two companies, and these discussions have proved unsuccessful in terms of agreeing on financial compensation. The camera maker also emphasized that they have no interest in pulling either the iPhone or the Blackberry from the market, but were simply seeking a reasonable compensation for the use of their patented trademarks.
Kodak actually has a history – and a successful one, too – of gaining patent infringement compensation from other technological companies. Korean handset producer Samsung recently had to hand over settlement fees for patent breach in their handsets to Kodak, with the New York based company unsurprisingly defensive of its technical advances, especially given its poor progress in the camera market recently. Kodak has found itself it has been far surpassed by technical progress by the likes of Nikon, Sony and Cannon in recent years.
The consequences of these legal issues for major handset producers remain to be seen, with the larger cases still pending and likely to take some time to go through a complex and costly legal process. It seems unlikely that any of the companies on the receiving end of the legal complaints will suffer any debilitating financial losses due to the legal concerns, with Apple in particular having taken substantial profits through the ever-popular iPhone. The legal wrangling may have an adverse effect on future technical developments in the mobile field, though, with profits far from guaranteed on new handset releases. Developers can be expected to be under strict instructions regarding patent breach, especially given the widely held view that Apple in particular are likely to have to pay out a fee for every handset sold that contains the patent breaching technology, both to Nokia and, it seems, to Kodak.
