Kodak patents for sale

Kodak has put its patent portfolio up for sale, the Wall Street Journal reports, noting that the investment bank Lazard Ltd. has begun shopping the portfolio.

The story asserts that one potential buyer is “a large, strategic buyer in the wireless industry looking to use the patents for defensive protection”.

The WSJ story actually was posted after Kodak shares had spiked on speculation that the company’s digital imaging patent portfolio could be a valuable addition to the IP holdings of Google, or Apple, or Microsoft, or HTC, or Samsung, or some other player in the mobile phone sector.