HTC lost to Apple in Patent case

Taipei, Dec. 17 (CNA) The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) said it has decided to review in part a final initial decision it had issued earlier this year in favor of U.S. consumer electronics giant Apple Inc. over Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp. According to a notice filed on its website Friday, after examining the final ruling and the record of investigations, the The United States International Trade Commission has decided to review the matter, as HTC requested in a petition, but will look at only one of the four patents involved.

The ruling issued by an The United States International Trade Commission judge in October found that Apple had not infringed on any of the four patents related to the technology used in Apple's iPhones, iPod and iPad, as HTC had claimed. Furthermore, Apple was found not to be in violation of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. HTC filed a complaint with the USITC against Apple in May 2011, accusing the U.S. company of stealing four HTC patents related to functions such as power management and phone dialing. The suit was in retaliation to a similar action filed by the U.S. company against HTC in March. In June, the USITC launched probes into HTC's claims and later ruled that Apple had not violated the patents, which prompted HTC to file a petition for a review.

HTC and Apple have been locked in a series of patent litigation amid escalating competition in the global smartphone market. In the complaint filed in March, HTC was accused of infringing on Apple's patents. In an initial decision, the commission found HTC had infringed two of Apple's patents. After two postponements, the The United States International Trade Commission is scheduled to issue a final decision on the case Dec. 19. There have been concerns that HTC would lose the case, which would lead the The United States International Trade Commission to ban sales of HTC products in the company's main market -- the U.S. According to Merrill Lynch, the U.S. market accounts for 40 percent-50 percent of HTC's total sales. (By Frances Huang)