The International Trade Commission (ITC) refused to ban Apple’s products, saying that the company didn't violate the four patents held by HTC.

HTC had claimed that Apple violated patents relating to power-management technology and phone-number directories used in HTC mobile devices.

HTC shares fell 4.6 per cent to 708.00 New Taiwan dollars (US$23.50), while Apple shares recently traded down 1.2 per cent at $416.89. The company is waiting to get the full copy of the ruling before it decides on how to proceed and, according to experts, HTC could ask ITC to review its decision.

This is only one step of many in these legal proceedings, said HTC General Counsel Grace Lei, We are confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to protect our intellectual property.

The final decision on the case will be delivered on Friday.

To be honest, I don't expect anything meaningful to come out of this ITC investigation. I didn't take it seriously from the day it was filed, patent expert Florian Meller, said, The patents look weak. Even if they were successfully enforced, I doubt they would pose a serious threat to Apple. At the time HTC filed its complaint, its patent position was very weak and this was basically just a way of indicating a willingness to fight.

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