MOUNTAIN VIEW (dpa-AFX) - A bankruptcy court in Manhattan has approved Kodak's proposed sale of its digital-imaging patent portfolio, said reports.
The patents are being sold to a group of technology companies for a purchase price of $525 million, much less than what the company originally asked for.
However, the deal represents a key milestone for Kodak, who can now emerge from its year-long bankruptcy. The deal also brings an end to the ongoing patent-related legal claims between Kodak and various companies including Fuji.
'With the Court's approval of the sale of our digital imaging patent portfolio, we have achieved one of Kodak's key restructuring objectives, while positioning our Commercial Imaging business for further growth and success, and enabling Kodak to repay a substantial amount of its initial lending, ' said Kodak in a statement on Friday.
Technology giants including Apple Inc. (AAPL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Google Inc. (GOOG), will buy these patents on behalf of Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corp.
Other companies who are buying the patents are Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE), Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM), Samsung Electronics Co. (SSNHY), a unit of HTC Corp. (HTCXF), Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (FUJIY) and Huawei (HWI.YY).
Kodak filed for bankruptcy in January, 2012, and has ever since laid-off and sold many of its once-core businesses. In August, the company put up the patents for sale through a bankruptcy-court supervised auction.
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