NEW YORK — A federal judge has approved Kodak’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

Judge Allan Gropper’s ruling paves the way for the photography pioneer to emerge from court oversight as a new company focused on commercial and packaging printing. The company has said it hopes to emerge from bankruptcy protection on Sept. 3.

Founded in 1880, Eastman Kodak Co. filed for bankruptcy protection last year after struggling with increasing competition, the shift from film to digital photography and growing debt levels. Since its filing, Kodak has sold off many of its businesses and patents.

“Kodak is a different company that the one in the popular imagination and very different from the one that filed for bankruptcy,” Kodak attorney Andrew Dietderich told the court in seeking approval for Kodak’s bankruptcy-exit plan.