Kodak Patent Auction Ends, No Winning Bids Accepted

The Eastman Kodak patent auction has ended without a deal being reached. Appearing in front of bankruptcy court Judge Allan Gropper on Friday, officials for Kodak admitted that its auction had failed to draw anywhere near the $2.5 billion being sought by the company.

Kodak revealed that it has decided to delay the sale of its patent holdings “indefinitely” as it attempts to evaluate other avenues for selling its proprietary holdings. Kodak said it will also no longer continue to seek out brief extensions for a final sale hearing.

Patent discussions will continue outside of the auction process, and Kodak has promised to immediately notify the bankruptcy court of any deals it reaches. In a less than optimistic moment, officials at Kodak warned the judge that it “may not reach acceptable terms with parties via the auction process.”

Kodak is currently attempting to sell its heavy-duty commercial scanners business, which offers embedded optical character recognition for form processing. Kodak is also attempting to sell its theme park photo business and its digital photos kiosks, which are located at thousands of stores throughout the United States.

As we reported earlier this week, Kodak will lay off another 1,000 workers before the end of 2012, bringing it’s total staff to under 14,000. Thirty years ago, the once mighty corporation employed more than 145,000 employees.

By cutting costs, selling some of its business segments, and offering its patents for sale, Kodak hopes to emerge from bankruptcy court as a lean company that can continue to remain profitable with the help of a smaller staff.