Business Notes PATENTS

Polaroid is a company built on instant gratification, but its grievance with Kodak has required enormous patience. A federal court in Boston has ordered Eastman Kodak to pay Polaroid $910 million in damages in the largest patent- infringement award in history. The decision is the culmination of a 1976 lawsuit in which Polaroid charged Kodak with violating patents on instant cameras and film. The amount of damages has been at issue since 1985, when the court ruled that Kodak had infringed on seven patents and ordered the company out of the instant-camera business.

Polaroid, whose founder Edwin Land introduced instant photography in 1947, had asked for $12 billion in damages. But Kodak offered to pay only $177 million. Industry experts, who predicted a settlement of $1 billion to $2 billion, think Polaroid will appeal the decision and seek higher damages. Says Brenda Landry, an analyst for Morgan Stanley: "In terms of the amount of sales and patents involved, it doesn't seem very big." Many experts viewed the ruling as a modest victory for Kodak, which might have been forced to sell off assets if the award had exceeded $1 billion.