Although the patent dispute between Apple and Samsung has been much in the forefront recently, Apple also has other legal battles going on with other manufacturers, one of which is HTC, and whilst back in July the US International Trade Commission ruled that Apple infringed on 2 HTC patents, on Monday the ITC came down in favour of Apple when it comes to a further 4 patents.

According to an article over on Phone Arena by way of the Wall Street Journal, the a US ITC judge issued a preliminary ruling that Apple does not infringe on 4 HTC patents to do with managing power consumption on a mobile device, looking up numbers and rapidly dialling them.

Grace Lei, general counsel for HTC commented in a statement that the ruling is “just one step in the process,” and that they have a “strong case for the ITC appeals process.” HTC is waiting to get their hands on a full copy of the ITC ruling before deciding on how to more forward.

The ruling may be a victory for Apple but more important rulings are to come in November and December according to analysts, with the ITC expected to decide on November the 13th over the preliminary ruling that Apple violated 2 HTC patents and on the 6th of December the ITC will decide on a preliminary ruling that HTC infringed on 2 Apple patents.

According to the WSJ report, analysts say Apple is looking to get HTC Android devices blocked from sale in the United States whilst HTC is hoping to gain leverage via counter suits to hopefully gain a “cross-licensing agreement.”

Which way will the cookie crumble is anyone’s guess, but hopefully Apple and HTC can come to some agreement rather than have HTC handsets banned in the US as all that really does is deprive customers of choice in the mobile space.

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