Fujifilm had sued a number of Kodak’s European entities for alleged infringement of its patent EP 3 511 174 B1, which relates to a planographic printing plate original plate, a method for manufacturing printing plates with a specific type of micropore, and a printing method.
In a ruling handed down on 2 April, the Unified Patent Court in Mannheim said that Kodak must pay damages to Fujifilm compensating the Japanese manufacturer for all losses caused by infringing the patent across a swathe of European country markets.
In the UK and Germany the order dates back to sales made of Sonora XTRA-3 from 17 July 2019.
Kodak has been ordered to pay €10m in interim damages “pending the communication of the requested accounting information”, plus €200,000 in compensation for the moral prejudice suffered, and €300,000 as an interim damages award for legal and other expenses.
The Court has also ordered Kodak to provide additional financial information within 21 days of the decision about the extent to which it has committed infringing acts; including manufacturing quantities, and sales and profits generated from the products.
A penalty of €10,000 per delay day will be levied from the month following the date of service of the judgement regarding the provision of this information.
Kodak had counterclaimed for the revocation of European patent EP 3 511 174 B1 in its entirety, but the court ruled that the manufacturer could not successfully rely on public prior use.
The ruling also requires Kodak to put a statement on relevant website(s) explaining that it had infringed Fujifilm’s patent with Sonora XTRA-3 and that it had been ordered to terminate all commercial activities related to these products in Germany and the United Kingdom immediately.
Kodak could appeal the ruling. It had not commented at the time of writing.
An industry source commented: “I’m not sure where Kodak will go with this. It’s massive and Fuji will not back down because of the situation in the US.
“They might do a deal but it would probably be tens of millions of dollars.”
Fujifilm has also lodged a separate patent infringement lawsuit in the US, citing four of its patents.
Fujifilm is among the plate manufacturers to have been hit by massive import tariffs for printing plates sold in the US market that are made in Japan or China. Those tariffs pre-date Presidents Trump’s trade tariffs announced this week.
Last month Kodak announced the full scale commercialisation of its new Kodak Sonora Ultra process-free plate in Europe, and said it was transitioning Sonora XTRA-3 customers to the new plate. It makes Sonora plates for the European market at its Osterode factory in Germany.
