Rich Fiscus
18 Oct 2011 12:14
HTC's patent claims against Apple in the US have been dealt a blow by the International Trade Commission. An ITC judge released a preliminary decision finding that Apple devices do not infringe on HTC patents.
HTC was asking for a ban on importing Apple devices. The complaint was in response to Apple's own patent lawsuits against the Taiwanese handset maker.
In a statement to Rueters, HTC general counsel Grace Lei downplayed the decision. She wrote, "This is only one step of many in these legal proceedings. We are confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to protect our intellectual property."
The decision will not be final until it is reviewed by the full commission in February. It does not cover the additional complaint from HTC regarding the patents acquired from Google earlier this year.
This decision may actually end up being irrelevant thanks to HTC's purchase of S3 Graphics earlier this year. S3 already has already won a preliminary judgement against Apple, which is also waiting to be heard by the commission.
If that ruling is upheld, Apple could be forced to work out a licensing deal which would protect HTC from further legal action.