After receiving a formal complaint from Eastman Kodak Co. last month, the U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday said it's probing Research In Motion and Apple for possible patent infringement related to camera-equipped Blackberry devices and iPhones.
ITC will be looking into the lawsuits Kodak filed last month against Apple and RIM in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. The first lawsuit concerns the iPhone's image preview and resolution technologies, and Kodak also claims Apple is illegally using technology that allows computer programs to "ask for help" from other programs.
Kodak filed a complaint against Sun Microsystems in 2002 alleging that Sun's Java violated Kodak patents on similar "ask for help" grounds, and that suit was settled out of court in Kodak's favor in 2004.
According to Reuters, Rochester, N.Y.-based Kodak said it is open to settlement talks with the two companies and has been flexible in the past in trying to resolve the patent infringement issues.
Kodak also wants the ITC to ban Apple and RIM from continuing to import devices featuring Kodak's technology on smartphones with digital cameras.
In December, Kodak won a complaint against Samsung in a similar patent infringement case. Kodak says it earns royalties from other handset makers such as Nokia and LG for its digital imaging technology.
According to Reuters, Kodak anticipates pulling in an average of between $250 million and $350 million in licensing revenue annually for the next few years. Kodak's 2009 revenue was roughly $7.6 billion.
