HTC scored a bit of victory in its ongoing patent dispute with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). The U.S. International Trade Commission said in a brief notice that it will investigate allegations made by HTC that Apple is infringing upon its technology, which has to do with "certain portable devices and related software."
At deadline, Apple had not responded to requests for comment on the ITC action.
In May HTC filed a claim against Apple alleging that the firm is infringing on five of HTC's patents. The Taiwanese company asked the ITC to ban imports of Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod products into the United States. According to the complaint, two of the patents are related to power management and the three others are related to hardware and software "used to implement telephone directories within mobile telephone systems."
HTC's complaint is part of an ongoing dispute between the two firms. Apple filed patent-infringement lawsuits against HTC in March with the ITC and in the U.S. District Court in Delaware. The suit claims that HTC infringed upon 20 of its patents related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. The suit by Apple against HTC was widely seen as a swipe at Google, since HTC has become one of the most prolific licensees of Google's Android mobile software.
For more:
- see this Reuters article
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