“柯达公司（Kodak）在与苹果公司（Apple）、RIM公司的10亿美元专利纠纷中赢回一局”——彭博新闻社（Bloomberg News）

    交易员们迅速利用这条要闻套利。柯达公司饱受打击的股票上周五以每股3.30美元开盘，盘后交易时段跳升近25%至4.12美元，就好像这10亿美元已经落入柯达公司的腰包。

    但在美国国际贸易委员会（ITC）赢得专利纠纷的一个回合，并不等于已经彻底击败对手。几个小时前当一名ITC法官判定苹果公司并未侵犯诺基亚公司(Nokia)的五项专利时，苹果公司的律师们肯定也意识到了这一点。

    在柯达一案中，发生的情况是法官同意将这宗两度对柯达不利的案子交由一个六人委员会进行终审。此前，ITC调查小组和一名主审行政法官都认定苹果公司和Research in Motion公司并未侵犯柯达公司相关专利。六人委员会可能会推翻调查小组和主审行政法官的判定，但柯达公司或其投资者都不能指望这一点。

    同样，苹果公司与诺基亚公司的诉讼虽然暂时获胜，但该案也可能被送至六人委员会重审。而且，这只是5项专利，而双方已进入诉讼的专利数量多达75项，而且除了ITC，案件还在其他六家法庭进行审理。上图是FOSS Patents的佛洛里安•穆勒在去年12月研究苹果-诺基亚专利纠纷时整理而成的。

    我们向穆勒询问他对上周五两项判决的看法。他的回答如下：

    “重审柯达案的决定说明在ITC诉讼的任一阶段，形势都可能发生变化。这正是为何去年11月份我警告说不要高估ITC调查小组做出的不利苹果公司的建议。在调查小组做出建议后，行政法官(ALJ)会做出判决，而且即便是行政法官的判决也可能重审，直到六人委员会做出最高一级的裁定。”

    “以此为例，即使是诺基亚对苹果公司的调查，最终判决也不一定与行政法官的最初判决完全相同，了解这一点十分重要。很多案件的情况都是如此，我相信苹果公司对此非常高兴。不过，即使诺基亚诉苹果公司的全部指控都被ITC否决，它们也可能以其他方式出现，届时两家公司将不得不在互相提起诉讼的美国地区法院和欧洲法院争个高低。”

    上周日，穆勒对苹果公司与诺基亚公司的专利纠纷现状进行了详细分析，您可点击此处查阅。

    "Kodak Wins a Round in $1 Billion Apple, RIM Patent Dispute" -- Bloomberg News

    Traders were pretty quick to cash in on that headline. Kodak's (EK) battered stock opened Friday at $3.30 a share and jumped nearly 25% to $4.12 in after-hours trading, as if those $1 billion were already in Kodak's pocket.

    But winning a round in a patent dispute at the International Trade Commission is not the same as knocking the guy out, as Apple's (AAPL) lawyers surely recognized a few hours earlier when an ITC Judge ruled that Apple had not violated five Nokia (NOK) patents.

    In the Kodak case, all that happened was a judge agreed to send to a six-member commission for final review a case that had already gone against Kodak twice. The ITC staff had concluded and a chief administrative law judge had determined that Apple and Research in Motion (RIMM) were not in violation of Kodak's disputed patents. It's possible that the commission will overrule both the staff and the chief ALJ, but it's not something Kodak or its investors can bank on.

    Apple's apparent victory over Nokia could also be sent to the commission for review. Moreover, it's only five patents in a hydra-headed, 75-patent dispute that's being fought not just at the ITC, but in six other legal venues. See the chart above assembled by FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller when he reviewed the legal battlefield in December.

    We asked Mueller to comment on Friday's proceedings. His reply below the fold.

    "The decision to review the initial determination in the Kodak investigation shows that fortunes can change at any stage of an ITC process. That's why I warned in November against overrating a staff recommendation against Apple: after the staff recommendation, there's the determination made by the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), and even the ALJ's determination can still be reviewed until the Commission decides at the highest level.

    "With that example in mind, it's important to consider that even in the Nokia vs. Apple investigation the final decision need not be identical to the ALJ's initial determination. In many cases it is, and I'm sure Apple is very happy about it. Also, even if all of Nokia's claims against Apple should be dismissed by the ITC, it might happen the other way round as well, in which case they'd have to fight it out in the US district courts as well as the European courts in which they are suing each other."

    On Sunday, Mueller took a detailed look at the current state of Apple vs. Nokia. You can read it here.