Japan"s Sony Corp said on Thursday it had filed suit against film giant Eastman Kodak Co in the United States, intensifying the fight between the two companies in the cutthroat digital camera market. Sony, one of the largest makers of digital cameras with a global market share of around 20 percent, said in a suit filed in a U.S. federal court in New Jersey on Wednesday evening that Kodak infringed 10 of its patents related to digital cameras. "It"s a very important technology resource for Sony and we feel that if any company is in infringement of them, we will take action," said Sony spokesman Gerald Cavanagh in Tokyo.
Sony, the maker of CyberShot digital cameras, is seeking unspecified damages and an order for Kodak to halt what it called further acts of infringement. The move follows a suit filed by Eastman Kodak last month alleging that Sony infringed 10 of the U.S. firm"s patents related to digital photography, such as reproducing video images, printing, previewing and storing images. Sony said its action was not a counter-suit and involved different patents than the suit filed by Kodak. Kodak spokesman Gerard Meuchner declined to comment, saying he was unaware of the suit. Kodak has licensing agreements with rival camera makers Olympus Corp and Sanyo Electric Co Ltd.