Apple and Google to team up for $500 Million Kodak Patent Bids

Now that Eastman Kodak Co. has received the go-ahead to sell 1,100 of their imaging patents, Google and Apple have joined forces to spend more than $500 million to buy patents that Kodak is selling because of bankruptcy.

The two companies that are competing for the smartphone market domination that are most unlikely to be partners decided to partner up, according to a news report in Bloomberg. But this isn’t the first time that companies that are unlikely to become partners for anything  have done such that (at least by the looks of it). Apple, Microsoft and RIM bought more than 6,000 patents from Nortel for $ 4.5 Billion – an auction where Google lost after making an offer for $900 Million.

This may neutralize the bitter rivalry to some extent now that Google and Apple has, now that they see mutual benefits by buying Kodak’s imaging patents. It will be interesting to see the aftermath of this deal once it is completed to see if there are any future benefits.

Source: Bloomberg