Apple and Google, the two 'opponents' competing at the smartphone and tablet market, have reportedly joined forces to acquire Eastman Kodak's 1,000 imaging patents for more than $500 million. Eastman Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January and it company needs to sell the patents to help pay down a $950 million loan from Citigroup. The company said that it expects to exit bankruptcy in 2013.

A Bloomberg report cited "two people with knowledge of the situation" today claiming that Apple and Google are trying to buy Kodak's imaging patents. The Wall Street Journal has previosuly reported that Apple and Google were each leading separate consortiums to purchase the patents in the range of $150 million to $250 million.

Partnerships are typical in patent sales because they allow competitors to neutralize potential infringement litigation. A group including Apple, Microsoft and Research in Motion bought Nortel Networks?s patents for $4.5 billion out of bankruptcy last year.

Google, said the company doesn't comment on rumors, while Kodak and Apple declined to comment on the patent sale.