Eastman Kodak’s reorganisation plan has cleared a final hurdle by winning approval from a federal bankruptcy judge in New York, a news report said on Tuesday.

The photography pioneer, which declared itself bankrupt in January last year, now is focussed on emerging from bankruptcy on September 3, USA Today reported.

“With the court’s decision today, our emergence is now imminent,” Kodak chief executive Antonio M Perez said in a statement. The company will aim to become a technology leader serving large and growing commercial imaging markets such as commercial printing, packaging, functional printing and professional services, he said.

For decades Kodak was the worldwide leading maker of camera film, but that business was gutted by the transition to digital photography.

Thousands of jobs have been eliminated, a fact that US Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper acknowledged in court on Tuesday along with difficulties that the bankruptcy has caused retirees and creditors, according to USA Today.

Kodak will continue to manufacture and supply camera film and operate Kodak’s photo kiosks. Its document imaging business is primarily its document scanner line.

Kodak announced last week that a majority of its creditors had signed off on the company’s reorganisation plan. It also said it had received the necessary financing from its banks.

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