A Kodak worker holds a DX3700 digital camera in 2001. Japan's Sony Corp. said it had struck a deal with Eastman Kodak Co. of the US to settle a long-running patent dispute in digital photo technology.[File Photo: AFP]

Japan's Sony Corp said it had struck a deal with Eastman Kodak Co. of the US to settle a long-running patent dispute in digital photo technology.

The two companies, which are competitors in digital photography, have entered a cross license agreement giving access to each other's patent portfolios, Sony said in a brief statement.

Eastman Kodak filed a lawsuit against Sony in March 2004 in a federal court in Rochester, New York, where Kodak is based, accusing the Japanese electronics giant of infringing 10 of its patents on digital photo technology.

The complaint covered patents registered between February 1987 and June 2003. They include techniques for compressing and digitally storing images, previewing and reproducing video images.

In April of the same year Sony filed a countersuit in the United States against Eastman Kodak for allegedly infringing 10 of its patents on digital camera technology.

Kodak also announced late Wednesday that it has entered into a technology cross license with Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, a joint venture between Sony and Swedish telecom giant Ericsson.

It said the two license agreements were royalty bearing to the US company.

"We are pleased to have reached a mutually beneficial arrangement that advances the interests of the three companies," Eastman Kodak vice president Laura G. Quatela said in a statement.

"These cross-license agreements give us broad access to the technology of Sony and Sony Ericsson, and validate the strength of Kodaks intellectual property portfolio."