Samsung hits Kodak back over patent dispute

Samsung has lodged a complaint with the same U.S. trade body that Kodak brought its complaint to against Samsung and LG, in an ongoing patent dispute over mobile phone camera technology.

The Korean handset vendor is asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to block the importation of Eastman Kodak digital cameras, which it says have technology that infringe on patents Samsung holds.

"Samsung Electronics plans to respond actively to this litigation (by Kodak)," said Lee Eun-hee, a company spokeswoman.

In November, Kodak, which gets a significant portion of its revenue from licenses, filed suit in a U.S. District Court in Rochester and also lodged a complaint with the ITC. It accused the handset makers of using Kodak's design for the capture, data compression and storage of pictures. In December, the UTC voted to investigate.

The ITC has long been a forum where patent disputes can be hashed out, and the wireless world is no exception. Qualcomm and Broadcom have filed complaints with the trade commission on numerous occasions in their long-running patent battles.

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