(Newser)
–
Add "patent fire sales" to the list of things that breed strange bedfellows. A 12-company consortium that includes Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon has snapped up $525 million worth of patents on digital photography from bankrupt Eastman Kodak, reports Bloomberg. Longtime Kodak rival Fujifilm and Blackberry maker RIM also were in the group. Kodak needs the cash to emerge from bankruptcy restructuring in 2013, when its leaner new version plans to focus mostly on commercial printing and packaging, notes the LA Times.
