Eastman Kodak has received bids from Apple and Google, as the imaging company seeks to sell 1100 patents to climb out of bankruptcy.
The company is expecting to fetch more than $2bn from the auction which it will use to pay off its creditors but according to Wall Street Journal the initial bid is between $150m to $250m.
The initial bids are expected to rise rapidly if both the companies compete with each other to secure the patent portfolio.
Kodak’s patent portfolio on bid include innovation related to capturing and processing images on cameras, smartphones and tablets and the other for storing and examining images.
The proceeds obtained following the bids shall be used for repaying banks including Citigroup which offered Kodak with a $950m loan.
The company has drawn $700m of the sanctioned loan and has issued nearly $114m in letters of credit under the facility.
Apple’s bid was supported by patent firm Intellectual Ventures, while the Google’s bid is supported by patent aggregator, RPX Corp.
The selling of patents is part of Kodak chief executive Antonio Perez’s plan to raise money.
Company’s patent portfolio does not include core mobile technology.
Last month, Kodak had lost a two-year patent case against Apple and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion as an initial ruling by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has declared that the patent claims are invalid.
