The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Tuesday its May ruling that Kodak did not infringe on Apple’s patents will stand. The two companies have been locked up in two separate legal battles for the better part of this year. Here’s how it started: Kodak first filed lawsuits against Apple and Research In Motion and accused both firms of infringing on its camera patents. That case was called “In the Matter of Certain Mobile Telephones and Wireless Communication Devices Featuring Digital Cameras, and Components Thereof.” A judge has already ruled in favor of RIM and Apple in that lawsuit, and it could end up costing the camera maker millions of dollars. Shortly after that case was filed, however, Apple responded with own suit against Kodak titled: “In the Matter of Digital Imaging Devices and Related Software.” That’s the suit that Kodak won in May and the one ITC ruled today will stand. “We are pleased that the commission has confirmed the ALJ’s finding that there is no violation by Kodak,” David Lanzillo, a Kodak spokesman, told Bloomberg.

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Remember how Kodak filed suit against Apple and RIM a year ago alleging patent infringement? Well, late yesterday, a U.S. International Trade Commission judge ruled that Kodak’s case — which related to low resolution previews of videos that are displayed on-screen while recording full resolution video — is invalid. Kodak had previously won claims against LG and Samsung, after which it was able to put a licensing deal in place worth a reported $864 million. Things might not turn out that well this time around, however. RIM has filed a federal suit challenging other Kodak patents and Apple is suing Kodak for patent infringement of its patents.

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Could point-and-shoot cameras become phased out by camera phones in the future? With a rising army of high-megapixel and high-quality camera phones, one would imagine that everything your current point-and-shoot can do will also be commonplace on future phones. Kodak, one of the biggest names in photography and imaging, has partnered up with Nokia where they will cross-license one another’s patent portfolios. There aren’t any hard details so anything anyone can say right now is pure speculation, however the deal is said to “provides significant benefits to both companies, [and] is royalty bearing to Kodak.” So far, Kodak has slapped some of their technology onto the MotoZINE ZN5, but its notable contributions haven’t gone much further. We’re hoping this is a really good sign of things to come and there is no doubt this will give a tremendous boost to the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer. Can you guys imagine a 10+ megapixel Nseries phone with Kodak’s Camera Control UI and technology powering the imaging and internals?

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