Kodak is returning to court this week to claim $1bn in damages and unpaid royalties from Sun Microsystems. The court found in favour of the camera company on Friday and ruled that Sun had infringed Kodak's Java patents.

The case hinged on patents Kodak bought from Wang Laboratories in late 1997. >Kodak welcomed the verdict and said it was part of a bigger strategy to convert its intellectual property into cash.

This week the court will decide how much Kodak should receive. Kodak wants a lump sum of $1.06bn - half of Sun's operating profit from servers and storage products between 1998 and 2001, according to local paper the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Kodak will also ask the court to set a royalty for Sun's future use of Java.

Sun told the paper it would conduct a "vigorous defence" in the next stage of the trial. Observers believe Sun is likely to appeal the decision. ®

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