Tuesday, 18 Octorber 2011

HTC has lost a potentially significant battle in the patent war with Apple after an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the USA's International Trade Commission (ITC) found that Apple had not infringed on four of HTC's patents.

The final decision has to be approved by the full Commission, but it is rare for them to overturn the findings from the Law Judge.

HTC had filed the complaint with the ITC last year seeking a ban on the import of Apple devices into the USA as part of the ongoing tit-for-tat patent wars between handset manufacturers.

The case involved four patents held by HTC related to protecting data, storing contact information and managing the phone's power supply.

The final determination from the Commission is due next February.

Earlier this year HTC had lost a similar claim by Apple over two other patents and would have been relying on a positive verdict in its case to pressure Apple to settle on a cross-licensing deal.

As with most handset manufacturers, HTC has been bolstering its patent portfolio recently to boost its defenses against patent lawsuits, including buying some patents from Google, as well as acquiring S3 Graphics, which has some patents which might cause Apple some minor problems.