Sun and Kodak settle out of court

By Steve Malone

Posted on 8 Oct 2004 at 09:12

In an out of court settlement, Sun Microsystems has agreed to pay Kodak $92 million to settle the long running patent case involving Java technology. In return Sun will receive a licence to the disputed patents.

A week ago, Kodak successfully sued for patent infringement. The company alleged that Sun had broken a 1996 agreement and developed object management procedures for Java which borrowed from the Kodak owned technology. A jury in Rochester, New York agreed and this week there were suggestions that Kodak was seeking around $1 billion in damages.

The patents came under Kodak ownership when it bought Wang Laboratories in 1997 for $260 million.

The final settlement is nothing like that. However, Sun is not admitting being in the wrong and Kodak - which only this week laid off some 600 staff in the UK - isn't facing a protracted appeals procedure in both the courts and the US Patents Office