New York: Eastman Kodak may hold patents worth five times more than the business itself, making the 131- year-old camera company a target in the billion-dollar hunt for inventions used in mobile phones.

Kodak, which once had a market value of more than $30 billion, has plunged 98% since its peak in the 1990s as demand for film photography withered and smartphones equipped to take pictures siphoned off demand for its digital cameras. The Rochester, New York-based company has reported losses in five of the past six years and has less than $600 million in equity value, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The digital-imaging patents owned by Kodak may now be worth $3 billion in a sale, MDB Capital Group said, after Google paid a dot-com-era premium to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings and obtain its more than 17,000 patents to combat Apple’s iPhone. While Kodak has a $1.2 billion pension shortfall,

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