Apple wins another patent victory

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has found Apple not guilty of infringing patents held by mobile phone maker HTC.

Accordingly, HTC's complaint was dismissed. The complaint sought a ban on the introduction of certain Apple devices into the US, including iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

The commission's decision is preliminary. The complaint was filed back in May of last year. HTC accused Apple of infringing four patents.

HTC isn't ruling out filing an appeal. The commission currently has three complaints filed by HTC against Apple.

Apple is suing many major mobile phone manufacturers, and HTC is just one of them. To date, the South Korean company that has suffered the most from Apple's actions is Samsung, which is banned from selling its devices in several countries.

Apple also filed complaints against HTC, one of which was found to be valid.

To protect itself from such claims, HTC bought several patents from Google this summer.