NEW YORK (PNN) - January 5, 2012 - Eastman Kodak Co. is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection in the coming weeks, people familiar with the matter said; a move that would cap a stunning comedown for a company that once ranked among Amerika's corporate titans.

The 131-year-old company is still making last-ditch efforts to sell off some of its patent portfolio and could avoid Chapter 11 if it succeeds. But the company has started making preparations for a filing in case those efforts fail, including talking to banks about some $1 billion in financing to keep it afloat during bankruptcy proceedings.

A Kodak spokesman said the company "does not comment on market rumors or speculation."

A filing could come as soon as this month or early February, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Kodak would continue to pay its bills and operate normally while under bankruptcy protection. However, the company's focus would then be the sale of some 1,100 patents through a court-supervised auction, according to unnamed sources.

That Kodak is even contemplating a bankruptcy filing represents a final reversal of fortune for a company that once dominated its industry, drawing engineering talent from around the country to its Rochester, N.Y., headquarters and plowing money into research that produced thousands of breakthroughs in imaging and other technologies.