Sent to the naughty corner for kicking a man when he's down, Apple has been denied the right to launch a new patent infringement case and to continue existing cases against Kodak, where, as reported earlier, the firm is currently involved in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Residing US Bankruptcy Judge, Allan Gropper, stated that although complaints needed to be sorted out in the near future, now was not the time and that it was vital to Kodak's emergence from bankruptcy protection, that the firm remain able to sell its intellectual property portfolio as a key part of the company's recovery strategy, "I would request that the parties report to me on their efforts to come up with a procedure that truly works," he stated.
Both firms have ongoing legal cases with each other pertaining to patents, with Kodak allegations of four patent infringements still within the system, whilst Apple allegations remain frozen, though previously the ITC did uphold a ruling that Kodak had not infringed on Apple's patents.
We can't help but wonder, just a little, how relieved the mobile industry might feel if firms were told that they had legal immunity against new Apple patent filings.
