In an earlier version of this article, Printweek incorrectly reported that court had also ordered Kodak to stop selling its Sonora XTRA-3 plates in the UK and for it to pay Fujifilm €10m (£8.5m) in initial damages for patent infringement. However, the ruling only applied to Germany, the UK claim will be heard and ruled separately, and the court rejected Fujifilm’s claim for €10m in initial damages for patent infringement.
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 Germany the order dates back to sales made of Sonora XTRA-3 from 17 July 2019.
While the court rejected Fujifilm’s request that Kodak be ordered to pay €10m in interim damages “pending the communication of the requested accounting information” and €200,000 in compensation for the moral prejudice suffered, Kodak was ordered to pay €300,000 as an interim damages award for legal and other expenses.
The Court has also ordered Kodak to provide additional financial information about the extent to which it has committed infringing acts; including manufacturing quantities, and sales and profits generated from the products. Fujifilm had requested that this information was supplied within 21 days of the decision, but the court rejected the request to set a timeframe.
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.
Kodak is appealing the ruling and affirmed that its latest Sonora Ultra plates are not subject to the ruling.
In response to the original article, Kodak referenced a companion decision issued by the same court on the same day invalidating a separate patent Fujifilm was seeking to enforce (EP 3 476 616, Decision of 2 April 2025, UPC_CFI_359/2023). Kodak also pointed out other developments in the ongoing patent saga with Fujifilm in which the Unified Patent Court in Dusseldorf invalidated a third similar patent in a parallel proceeding (EP 3 594 009, Decision of 28 January 2025, UPC_ CFI_355/2023), Fujifilm was forced to withdraw a national German proceeding (Düsseldorf Regional Court, file no. 4c O 60/23) when a fourth similar underlying patent was invalidated by the Technical Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EP 3 511 173, Decision of 4 February 2025, T-0439/24), and Fujifilm withdrew a fifth similar patent (EP 4 082 804) when challenged by Kodak.
“As Fujifilm did not appeal the decision revoking EP 009 and the decision invalidating EP 173 was a final appellate decision, three of the five patents in dispute are already invalidated with final effect,” said a Kodak spokesperson.
“To obtain even the modicum of temporary success in the EP 174 proceeding, Fujifilm was forced to narrow the scope of the patent so that the claim only applies to Sonora XTRA-3 and excludes Sonora X and XTRA-2 which were initially attacked as allegedly infringing.”
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 earlier this month.
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.
