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ITC sides with Apple over HTC in initial ruling on patent suit

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The U.S. International Trade Commission has reportedly sided with Apple Inc. over HTC Corp. in a preliminary decision on a patent infringement lawsuit.

According to Reuters, the commission’s administrative law judge Charles Bullock ruled Monday that Apple is not violating four HTC patents relating to power management and phone dialing technologies, which a lawsuit accused it of doing.

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However, the final ruling on the suit won’t arrive until February, after the commission decides whether it agrees with Bullock’s initial ruling.

HTC’s International Trade Commission suit requests that the commission block of the import of iPads, iPhones and iPods into the U.S. due to the alleged patent infringement.

Apple and HTC, which makes phones and tablets running Google’s Android operating system, are also involved in a patent dispute in a U.S. District Court in Delaware. In the Delaware dispute, HTC calls for a halt to the import of iPads, iPhones, iPods and Mac computers.

In that complaint, HTC accuses Apple of infringing on patents it owns covering how devices connect to Wi-Fi and other wireless networks.

Apple too has filed suits against HTC, both in U.S. District Court in Delaware and with the trade commission accusing the smartphone and tablet maker of infringing on patents owned by the iPhone maker that are older than smartphones themselves.

HTC said in July it would be up for negotiations to settle the suit Apple filed against it, but so far no settlement has come.

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Apple is also involved in a much larger international patent battle with Samsung that shows no signs of slowing down.

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HTC escalates Apple patent fight with Delaware lawsuit

Samsung sues to ban Apple iPhone 4S sales in Japan, Australia

Patents in Apple-HTC case filed in 1994 and 1996, before smartphones existed

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

twitter.com/nateog

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