Apple-Google Team Up for $500 Million-Plus Kodak Patents Bid

<p><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-12-07/apple-joins-google-in-500-million-plus-bid-for-kodak-patents"><img title="Apple-Google Team Up for $500 Million-Plus Kodak Patents Bid" src="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&iid=ioIAXWmmhEPQ" alt="Kodak Worth More in Breakup With $3 Billion Patents" width="630" height="419" /></a><br>

Apple Inc. (<a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?ticker=AAPL:US" data-symbol="AAPL:US">AAPL</a>) and Google Inc. have joined forces to offer more than $500 million to buy Eastman Kodak Co. (<a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?ticker=EKDKQ:US" data-symbol="EKDKQ:US">EKDKQ</a>)’s patents out of bankruptcy, said people familiar with the situation.<br>

The two companies, competing for dominance of the smartphone market, have partnered after leading two separate groups this summer to buy some of Kodak’s 1,100 imaging patents, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.<br>

Unlikely partnerships are typical in patent sales because they allow competitors to neutralize potential infringement litigation. A group including Apple, Microsoft Corp. (<a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?ticker=MSFT:US" data-symbol="MSFT:US">MSFT</a>) and Research in Motion Ltd. bought Nortel Networks Corp.’s more than 6,000 patents for $4.5 billion out of bankruptcy last year. Google lost the auction for those patents after making an initial offer of $900 million.<br>

"Apple and Google learned a lesson from the Nortel’s auction,” said Richard Ehrlickman, former vice president of Intellectual Property at International Business Machines Corp. and president of IP Offerings, a patent brokerage and consulting company in Boca Raton, Florida. “They have decided to come together in this process to reduce the cost of purchasing the Kodak patents, while meeting their business needs.”</p>

<h2>Digital Patents</h2>

<p>The Apple-led group pursuing Kodak’s patents included Microsoft and Intellectual Ventures Management LLC as of July, the people said, while Google’s partners included patent- aggregation company RPX Corp. and Asian makers of Google’s Android phones. The two groups had separately offered less than $500 million for Kodak’s portfolio. They now teamed up to offer more together, said two of the people.<br>

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Source: <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-12-07/apple-joins-google-in-500-million-plus-bid-for-kodak-patents">http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-12-07/apple-joins-google-in-500-million-plus-bid-for-kodak-patents</a></p>