The joint bid was first reported by Bloomberg News, which said Google and Apple had decided to work together after tabling separate bids for the 1,000-plus patents in the Kodak portfolio, many of which are considered applicable to the smartphone industry.

Kodak refused to comment on the rumour, citing restrictions tied to its efforts to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Kodak recently said it had received commitments from its debt holders for US$830 million in funding to exit bankruptcy protection next year, but stressed that financing was contingent on the sale digital imaging patents for at least US$500 million.

[Related: Kodak exits digital camera manufacturing]

In an interview with ProPrint's sister title, PrintWeek, Kodak director Chris Payne said: "Because the court has ordered strict confidentiality requirements throughout the patent sale process, we cannot offer any comment on the speculation.

"However, we have stated generally that monetisation of our non-strategic intellectual property is one of the four key objectives of our Chapter 11 restructuring."

Apple and Google did not respond to PrintWeek's requests for comment.

After filing for bankruptcy protection in January, Kodak initially said in court documents that the patents relating to the capture, manipulation and sharing of digital images could be worth more than US$2.5 billion, noting it had already generated more than US$3 billion over the past decade licensing the patents to host of companies.  

But the fact the patents have been so widely licensed has affected the portfolio's value, according to Bloomberg.

[Related: More international news]

This article originally appeared at printweek.com

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