Kodak has lost a patent case against Apple and RIM, "dealing a blow to the onetime film giant's efforts to raise billions of dollars by selling off its intellectual property," according to "The Wall Street Journal" (http://macte.ch/6fPFB).

Kodak filed a complaint against the iPhone and BlackBerry makers at the U.S. International Trade Commission in early 2010, saying their devices infringed on its patent for previewing images with a digital camera. On Friday, the ITC dismissed the complaint, upholding a finding by one of its judges that the patent was invalid.

The commission concluded that neither Apple nor RIM had violated trade laws that could have led to an injunction halting imports of their products, adds the "WSJ." Since the patent at issue was one of Kodak's most valuable, the ruling raises fresh questions about how much money the company, now in Chapter 11, can raise from an auction that is expected to conclude next month, the article adds. Kodak plans to appeal the ruling.

Apple sued Kodak in April 2010, about three months after Kodak accused Apple and Research In Motion of infringing a patent related to ways of previewing images. Apple's countersuit said Kodak devices copy the technology that it uses in Macs, iPhone, iTunes and Photo Booth involving image processing, energy management and memory design.