Kodak may reap $1b on Friday if Apple, RIM verdict reviewed

Kodak chief Antonio Perez in a talk late Thursday said he still hoped to reap over $1 billion in revenue on Friday from its patent complaint against Apple and RIM. An ITC verdict in the phone camera dispute is due to be delivered at 5PM Eastern on Friday that would determine whether it will rethink a dismissal of Kodak's complaints. Perez told Bloomberg he believed his company "deserved to win," though he didn't qualify the answer.

He would likely be counting on the verdicts the ITC voting in favor of Kodak for its earlier LG and Samsung challenges. The decision could determine whether or not a related lawsuit will go ahead, since a final ITC determination that the BlackBerry and iPhone didn't violate the patents could effectively end the civil court case.

Increasingly, Kodak has turned to lawsuits as a major source of income as compensation for failures in its core business. Its revenue of $7.2 billion in 2010 was half of what it made just in 2005, and about 12 percent of that, $838 million, was from patent royalties. The firm didn't successfully make the transition from film to digital and has mostly relied on low-end compact cameras and printers indistinguishable from rivals.

Apple and RIM together have countersued Kodak and lodged ITC complaints as bargaining chips to either force a settlement or punish Kodak for bringing up the lawsuit. The use as a negotiating tactic wouldn't be necessary if the ITC upholds the earlier verdict.