NEW YORK: Eastman Kodak Company posted a wider second-quarter loss, as it prepares for a crucial auction in which it hopes to sell more than 1,100 patents to help repay its bankruptcy creditors.

The Rochester, New York-based company, which is shifting its business towards printing from photography, said its quarterly loss increased 67 per cent to $299 million, or $1.10 per share, from $179m, or 67 cents, a year earlier.

Excluding costs related to its reorganisation, the second-quarter loss totalled $139m, Kodak said.

Revenue fell 27pc to $1.08 billion, reflecting what Kodak called its exit from the digital camera business, lower sales of traditional products, and a stronger US dollar.

Kodak is selling more than 1,100 digital imaging patents, which cover technology used in digital cameras, smartphones and tablets.

It has said it has earned more than $3bn in revenue since 2001 from licensing these patents, which comprise roughly 10pc of its patent portfolio.

An auction of the patents is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, and Kodak said a winning bidder should be named by August 13.

Kodak remains in litigation with several companies over some of its patents, including Apple, and Research in Motion.

Kodak, founded in 1880, filed for bankruptcy protection after being hurt first by Japanese competition and then by its inability to keep pace with the shift from film to digital photo technology over the past decade.

The company subsequently announced plans to stop making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames, saying that it sees home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging as the core of its future business.