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Sun expects Kodak lawsuit comeuppance

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
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Stephen Shankland

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Sun Microsystems may have paid Eastman Kodak $92 million to settle a patent infringement lawsuit, but the server and software company expects to exact revenge, Chief Executive Scott McNealy said Wednesday.

Speaking at a panel discussion with his fellow Sun cofounders at the Computer History Museumhere, McNealy said Kodak will come up against Sun's intellectual property portfolio as it transforms from a film company to a digital technology company.

"Sometimes corporations turn into (patent) trolls. We got nailed by a film company in Rochester, N.Y. for supposedly having Java. We had to make a $90 million payment," McNealy said. "I call it a loan, because that company is moving into the digital infrastructure (realm) and they're going to step all over our IP (intellectual property). That's why I call it a loan with a high interest rate."

Sun might be gracious about the situation, he added. "Hopefully we can work out something more amicable," McNealy said.

He also predicted that Google, now a company with vast sums of cash on hand, will have a very busy intellectual property lawyer. "You don't sue a skid-row bum, you sue guy with a lot of money," McNealy said.