Kodak Patented the Digital Camera. It Expired in 1997.

About this episode

Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975 and patented it in 1978. It still went bankrupt. The twist: the patent expired in 1997, two years before camera makers even started counting digital shipments. Kodak's later patents brought in over $3 billion in licensing after 2003, and in 2010 licensing brought in $838 million while Kodak still lost $687 million. In 2012 it filed for Chapter 11 and sold its digital imaging patents for about $525 million. Owning the patent is not owning the market. A patent runs on a clock that starts when you file, not when customers show up. A strategy lesson for founders and R&D leaders about building your own replacement. Patents shown: US 4,131,919 ("Electronic Still Camera", Lloyd and Sasson, filed May 20, 1977, granted Dec. 26, 1978, expired May 20, 1997) Sources - Steve Sasson on building the first digital camera, BBC Future (Dec. 8, 2025): https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251205-how-the-handheld-digital-camera-was-born - "Kodak's First Digital Moment", The New York Times Lens blog (Aug. 12, 2015): https://archive.nytimes.com/lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/kodaks-first-digital-moment/ - US 4,131,919, Google Patents: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4131919A/en - Camera shipment statistics, CIPA: https://www.cipa.jp/stats/documents/common/cr200.pdf - Kodak Chapter 11 announcement, Jan. 19, 2012 ("over $3 billion of licensing revenues since 2003"): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/31235/000119312512016443/d285282dex991.htm - Kodak 2011 annual report (10-K), licensing revenue and net loss: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/31235/000003123512000036/ek2011_10k.htm - Kodak correspondence with the SEC on the Samsung licence (Nov. 30, 2010): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/31235/000003123510000119/filename1.htm - Kodak patent sale announcement, Dec. 19, 2012: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000031235/000119312512507443/d453340dex991.htm - Kodak to phase out digital cameras (Feb. 9, 2012): https://piworld.com/article/kodak-phasing-out-capture-devices-business-including-digital-cameras - Pre-sale valuation estimate (The Register, Dec. 19, 2012): https://www.theregister.com/2012/12/19/kodak_sells_imaging_patents/ Credits Drawing of the 1975 Kodak prototype: Bertrand Labévue, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kodak_Sasson_BL.jpg Patent drawings: USPTO. Charts: Invent Anything, from CIPA data and Kodak SEC filings. Music and sound design: original. Not affiliated with Eastman Kodak Company. Kodak is a trademark of Eastman Kodak Company. Strategy education, not legal advice. ipCapital Group. #Kodak #Patents #Innovation #DigitalCamera #Strategy