July 26 (Bloomberg) -- Eastman Kodak Co., the world's largest photography company, sued Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., claiming infringement of four U.S. patents on digital-camera technology.

Matsushita, the world's biggest maker of consumer electronics, is using Kodak's inventions without permission, Kodak said in a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Tyler, Texas. Also sued were Panasonic Corp., Victor Co., and JVC Americas Corp. Matsushita owns all of Panasonic and a majority stake in Victor, which makes the JVC brand.

``Kodak has been damaged by the infringement'' and wants cash compensation, according to the complaint. It's also seeking a court order to block further use of its technology.

Kodak, based in Rochester, New York, claims that digital cameras made by the companies are using Kodak inventions patented between 1991 and 2001 for image compression, storage, color sensors and previews. The patents are among those Kodak used against Sony Corp. in a suit that was settled in January.

``Matsushita Electric is aware of the suit but we have not been served yet,'' said Matsushita spokesman Jim Reilly. ``We haven't had an opportunity to study it and so cannot comment.''

Kodak, which popularized film cameras, licenses technology to camera makers, such as Olympus Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. It gets royalties from Sony as part of the patent settlement.

Kodak shares fell 67 cents to $26.46 at 4:20 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, valuing the company at $7.6 billion. Matsushita stock fell 40 yen to 2,245 ($19) in Tokyo.

The case is Eastman-Kodak Co. v. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., 07cv352, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Tyler). To review the disputed patents through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Web site, search for patent numbers 5,016,107; 5,164,831; 5,493,335; and 6,292,218 at http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/srchnum.htm.

To contact the reporters on this story: Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net and; Jeff St.Onge in Washington at jstonge@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 26, 2007 16:24 EDT