Wall Street Journal reported that camera manufacturer Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) was preparing to file for bankruptcy in the next few weeks.

The century old company is still trying to sell its corporate patents that could avoid the filing of Chapter 11. Kodak was marked as one of America's corporate titans. However, it seems that it has lost its touch. Thus, the company was preparing for the filing unless its effort fails.

According to WSJ source, the filing could be filed this month or on February. The company will still pay its bills and operate under normal circumstances. However, its focus will be shifted in selling its over 1,100 patents through a court-supervised auction.

There were a lot of speculations as to what are the reasons for the eminent filing of bankruptcy of Kodak. One of the possible reasons is the popularity of camera phones and people's favor over them than stand-alone cameras.

It seems that since camera was integrated in a mobile phone, it continuously innovates itself giving rise to higher megapixels for clearer and sharper photos, camera apps, photosharing sites, etc.

Aside from the fact that camera phones are dominating the market, Kodak was also unable to surpass its main competitors Canon and Nikon as others high caliber cameras.

Kodak in the Digital Age

The company's looming bankruptcy has nothing to do with failure to innovate or failure to recognize the shift towards digital photography. As a matter of fact, Kodak has been involved in the rise of digital cameras.

Kodak electrical engineer, Steve Sasson, actually "invented" the digital camera in 1975. Kodak partnered with Nikon in 1991 to produce a professional-grade digital camera with a whopping 1.3 Megapixels. In 1995, Kodak released their first "point-and-shoot" camera. One of Kodak's chief assets is its collection of patents, which company executives have been trying to sell.

On the other hand, Kodak has sued other companies - including phone manufacturers Apple and Research in Motion - for infringing their patents on the ability to preview photos on their phones.