Kodak patent complaint against Apple, RIM rejected

(AP) -- A federal agency that oversees trade disputes has rejected Eastman Kodak's complaint that iPhones and BlackBerry camera phones infringe on its digital-imaging technology.

A preliminary decision issued Monday by a judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington undercuts the photography pioneer's chances of negotiating royalty-paying deals with smart phone makers Apple Inc. and Research in Motion Ltd.

Kodak has amassed more than 1,000 digital-imaging patents, and almost all of today's digital cameras rely on that technology.

It argued in a complaint filed a year ago that Apple's iPhones and RIM's camera-enabled BlackBerry models infringe on a 2001 patent covering ways to preview digital images.

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