Kodak has made good on its intent to sell off patents that it holds as it seeks to stabilize its weakened financial position. While the company has thousands of patents in their portfolio, its latest official patent sale pertains to laser projection and other technology that has been purchased by the IMAX cinema group. The licensing deal is said to be worth tens of millions of dollars.
Under the new deal with IMAX, the cinema group will have the exclusive use of Kodak’s laser projection patents. The technology will give IMAX the ability to project high definition video content on screens larger than 80 feet and even on domed theaters. IMAX says that it expects to begin screening films with the technology sometime during the second half of 2013.
According to persons familiar with the specifics of the deal, IMAX will have certain rights for use in cinema of up to 10,000 of Kodak’s 11,000 patents. Kodak has already raised $2 billion in patent sales, and according to analyst estimates, could stand to generate and additional $1 billion with the sell off of the remaining 1,000 or so patents.
Following four years of losses with the decline of traditional photography in the digital age, Kodak claims that it expects to become profitable again with a new focus on digital inkjet printers.
