Running low on cash and unable to attract buyers for its assets, Eastman Kodak Co. put itself into bankruptcy court, where it hopes to slash what it owes retirees and force much bigger technology companies to pay to use its patents.

Kodak's move, which came early Thursday morning, sets up a highly uncertain process that, if successful, will allow it to emerge in a year or two as a smaller company with fewer employees and perhaps very little to do with the photography business, on which it built its name.

But...