Sun Microsystems said today it will pay Eastman Kodak $92 million to settle a Java patent-infringement lawsuit.

Sun’s news release says it does not admit or deny that Java violates Kodak’s three object-activation patents. A federal jury in Rochester, New York, ruled Oct. 1 that Sun violated Kodak’s patents. According to the Democrat and Chronicle, the jury was scheduled to begin a penalty hearing today to decide how much money Sun owe’s Kodak for violating the patents. Kodak was asking for $1.06 billion, while Sun had said it should pay no more than $25 million.

Sun’s statement says the settlement resolves “all claims in pending litigation between the parties.” The settlement amount includes a license for Kodak’s patents. The three-paragraph statement quotes Jonathan Schwartz, president and chief operating officer, as saying:

"We are eager to put this punitive litigation behind us,
to have reached a decision in the best interest of our
stockholders, customers and employees, and to focus our
future activities on the evolution of the Internet and
Sun's place within it."

Kodak’s also-three-paragraph news release, also issued today, quotes Willy Shih, Kodak senior vice president, as saying:

"We achieved our goals in this case, which was to protect
our intellectual property rights. We are pleased that the
Court has validated these fundamental Kodak patents and we
now look forward to building a more productive relationship
and continued collaboration with Sun...."