Word: berkey
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...award for Berkey...
...business and legal communities were astonished in January when a federal jury of two men and eight women found Eastman Kodak Co. guilty of monopolistic practices in a case brought by New York-based Berkey Photo, Inc., a relatively small competitor. When the same jury last week fixed the penalty, the reaction was genuine shock. Kodak, said the jurors, should pay Berkey $37.6 million in damages-and that was just the beginning. Because standard procedure is to triple damages for violation of antitrust law, the court is expected to raise the award to $112.8 million, one of the largest judgments...
Hard-pressed Chairman Ben Berkey, who, ironically, is trying to dispose of his company's unprofitable camera-manufacturing division, crowed: "I am delighted with the verdict." However, he will have to wait awhile for any money. The jury will not meet until Feb. 21 to decide on an award (Berkey is seeking $900 million). More important, Kodak Chairman Walter Fallen told his top managers at headquarters in Rochester that Kodak will appeal, be vindicated and continue to operate "as we have in the past...
Legal echoes of its competitive battles will keep Kodak tied up in court for years, whatever the final Berkey verdict. GAF has filed an antitrust suit asking the courts to splinter Kodak into no fewer than ten separate businesses. Pavelle, a tiny New Jersey firm that sank into bankruptcy in 1975, has brought suit asking, among other things, that the trademark "Kodak" be as freely available to the public as the term aspirin. Polaroid has also sued, contending that Kodak's instant cameras and print film infringed on Polaroid patents. Most ominous of all, the Department of Justice...
Nobody on Wall Street is confident enough to assess the long-term legal dangers to Kodak. But the company's stock has been sliding since 1973, when it reached an alltime high of 151%. Last week, in heavy trading after the Berkey verdict, it dropped more than 3 points, to a close...