When the original Polaroid Corporation was declared bankrupt in 2001, its brand and assets were sold off. The "new" Polaroid formed as a result, itself declared bankruptcy in 2008, resulting in a further sale to Polish billionaire Wiaczeslaw Smolokowski. In May 2017, the brand and intellectual property of Polaroid Corporation were acquired by the largest shareholder of the Impossible Project, which had originally started out in 2008 by producing new instant films for Polaroid cameras. The Impossible Project was renamed Polaroid Originals in September 2017, and in March 2020 was renamed to simply Polaroid.

Founding and success

The original Polaroid Corporation was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Edwin Land and George W. Wheelwright III in 1937. It has been described by The Boston Globe as a "juggernaut of innovation", and "the Apple of its time" with a "leader in Edwin Land, a scientist who guided the company as the founding CEO for four decades".Polaroid’s initial market was in polarized sunglasses — spawned from Land’s self-guided research in light polarization. Land, having completed his freshman year at Harvard University, left to pursue this market, resulting in Polaroid's birth. Land later returned to Harvard to continue his research. Polaroid, owning patents to its polarizer technology, got its start by employing polarization in products that included 3-D movies and protective goggles for military dogs. During World War II, Polaroid designed and manufactured numerous products for the armed services including an infrared night viewing device. He led the company as CEO for 43 years. He headed the Polaroid Corporation, developing it from a small research and marketing firm into a well known high-tech company. Kodak was a customer for some of Land's polarizing products. Recognized by most as the father of instant photography, he included all the operations of a darkroom inside the film itself. Land was pictured on the cover of Life magazine in 1972 with the inscription, "A Genius and His Magic Camera".

In the 1940s, Polaroid purchased the B B Chemical Company building at 784 Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts for its headquarters. The landmark^[ Streamline Moderne style structure would be added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1982.

When Kodak announced instant film cameras in 1976, Polaroid announced they were suing them, accusing Kodak of having stolen its patented instant photography process. In the two years that followed the lawsuit, total sales of instant cameras climbed from 7.4 million cameras in 1976 to 10.3 million in 1977 and 14.3 million in 1978. The suit in federal court lasted 10 years. Polaroid asked for $12 billion for infringements of its patents by Kodak. The court ruled in favor of Polaroid, and ordered Kodak to cease instant picture production, plus pay Polaroid $909.5 million of the $12 billion it had asked for.