iphone and Blackberry may soon be banned in the US

[Top-Tier-Tech]

Source

That would be totally awesome

[CDMan477]

They wouldn't be banned outright. Apple and others would be forced to pay a lump sum based on the number of phones sold up to this point as well as future payments for every phone that uses Kodak's patent. It even mentions in the article how Samsung, LG, and others were already sued at one point and now pay royalties to Kodak. Even if they were banned, why would that be awesome?

[Spiff]

Yeah.. theyd never be banned - at the very worst maybe an injuction to prevent further sales? Even that is entirely unlikely - as CDman says either royalties, single payment, or settlement out of court is the most probable outcome - assuming Kodak have a decent case to begin with.

[Top-Tier-Tech]

Kodak asked the FTC to block the importation into the U.S. of the allegedly infringing products.

If they infringed a copyright Kodak could choose to ban them outright, however they would likely prefer a payout.

[Spiff]

I dont think theyd be legally entitled to ban the use of existing phones, though.

[CDMan477]

If they infringed a copyright Kodak could choose to ban them outright, however they would likely prefer a payout.

Yeah, but there isn't a company out there who would try to do that. You want other companies to license your technology so that you can make money off of it unless you want it to stay proprietary. Last time I checked, Kodak isn't exactly rolling in the dough when it comes to cell phones. Considering they're already making money off of other companies, why would they pass up the money on the iphone or Blackberry's? There is a fortune to be made there. As I stated above though, why would it be awesome if they were banned?

[Top-Tier-Tech]

As I stated above though, why would it be awesome if they were banned?

I hate cell phones?

[Simetrical]

Either they'll negotiate a license fee, or they'll work around the patent. It sounds like they could just disable a feature in their image editing app or something to fix the problem. So it will depend on how much money Kodak demands from them.

[Yojimbo]

Agreed there is no way they would ban blackberries lots of businesses types rely on them. But Kodak has assuredly pwned those other companies and will no doubt get a nice damage payment.

of course the upshot of this is that iphones/blackberries will become slightly more expensive because of royalty payments.

And how can you hate cellphoens? They are useful.

[Jaketh]

if mighty Kodak wants them gone their gone