HTC to Appeal Ruling on Violation of Apple Patents

A preliminary ruling from the U.S. International trade Commission, or ITC, found that Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp infringed two of Apple Inc.'s patents.

But HTC could fight this ruling as the company believes it has a strong case for an appeal.

The Taiwan-based company said it doesn't have the full details of the ruling to see what led to such finding.

But General Counsel Grace Lei told issued s statement last week noting that the company is highly confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to defend ourselves using all means possible.

The preliminary ITC rulings are rarely overturned, but the finding by the staff attorney raises the possibility that the Taiwanese handset maker could have a chance in appeals, some analysts told the Wall Street Journal.

Apple's patent dispute with HTC stems back to March 2010, when the iPhone maker sued HTC for patent infringement. Apple alleged that the HTC infringed on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.

In its defense, HTC responded with legal action in May 2010, requesting a stop to the importation and sale of iPhone, iPad and iPod in the U.S.