Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Fujifilm Corporation, alleging infringement of certain patents related to Kodak digital imaging technology.

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, alleges that certain Fujifilm digital cameras infringe patented Kodak digital imaging technology.

''Kodak has long been in discussions with Fujifilm, asking the company to do what more than 30 other companies have done already and take a license for their use of our pioneering digital imaging technology,” said Timothy M. Lynch, Chief Intellectual Property Officer, Eastman Kodak Company. “Kodak has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in developing this technology.”

''Not only have we failed to reach an agreement, but Fuji resorted to filing suit against us in October in what was a thinly veiled attempt to redirect attention from their continued use of Kodak patented technology.There’s a basic issue of fairness that needs to be addressed. The failure to appropriately compensate Kodak for the unauthorized use of our patented technology impedes our ability to continue to innovate and introduce new products.”

Kodak has licensed its digital imaging patents to more than 30 leading technology companies, including LG, Motorola, Samsung and Nokia, with all of the licenses royalty-bearing to Kodak.

The complaint against Fuji alleges infringement of the following five patents:

U.S. Patent No. 5,493,335 (“Single Sensor Color Camera With User Selectable Image Record Size”)
U.S. Patent No. 6,292,218 (“Electronic Camera For Initiating Capture of Still Images While Previewing Motion Images”)
U.S. Patent No. 6,573,927 (“Electronic Still Camera For Capturing Digital Image and Creating a Print Order”)
U.S. Patent No. 6,441,854 (“Electronic Camera With Quick Review of Last Captured Image”)
U.S. Patent No. 5,164,831 ( “Electronic Still Camera Providing Multi-Format Storage of Full and Reduced Resolution Images”)