Kodak Says ‘Large Number’ of Buyers Evaluating its Patents

Eastman Kodak Co., seeking to generate cash from its intellectual property, has signed confidentiality agreements with numerous potential buyers of patents it put up for sale last month, Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez said.

“At the moment we announced that, the phone started to ring,” Perez, 65, said yesterday in a telephone interview. Lazard LLC, Kodak’s adviser, has “contacted a large number of people. There are a number of people who signed their NDAs,” he said, referring to non-disclosure agreements protecting details about inventions covered by the patents.