After Apple recently approached a US federal court for permission to sue a bankrupt Kodak over alleged patent infringement, Kodak has now responded by asking a bankruptcy court to prevent Apple from doing just that.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Kodak agrees with the Cupertino-based tech outfit that their patent dispute has to be concluded as soon as possible. However, Kodak does not want the matter to appear before a federal district court (the US District Court in Manhattan), since this would lead to a delay to a planned $2.6 billion sales bid of its digital imaging patents.

Kodak would rather have this matter resolved by the US Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, which is also handling its insolvency case. Arguments from both sides will be heard tomorrow.

The legal strife between the two tech companies kicked off in 2010 when Kodak sued Apple as well as BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, over alleged patent infringements by these companies. The lawsuit dealt with patents on image preview software used in both companies camera-boasting smartphones.

In other patent related news Apple recently filed a new lawsuit against Samsung in the US, over alleged patent infringement.