Nikon puts Polaroid’s terrible mirrorless camera out of its misery

Introduced at CES in January, the Polaroid iM1836 promised a lot: it was Android-powered, had interchangeable lenses, and carried a brand many of us still associate with fun and effortless photography. Unfortunately, it was also a quite terrible device and, worse, a direct ripoff of Nikon’s 1 Series. The latter has now been affirmed by a US court, which has ruled in favor of Nikon in its patent infringement suit against Sakar, the iM1836’s maker.

The two companies have agreed that Sakar “will no longer manufacture, import, advertise, promote, offer for sale, sell, or ship the Polaroid iM1836 digital camera in its present configuration.” The product page for the camera has now been removed and Sakar’s website only lists photography parts it sells under the Vivitar and Kodak brands, there are no Polaroid options at all. It may seem odd that Nikon would go to such lengths to thwart what is an obviously inferior product, but as the court concluded, this is a legitimate case of patent infringment.