The U.S. International Trade Commission has given Apple a victory in its patent dispute against Android mobile phone maker HTC. News.com reports that the ITC has ruled that HTC has violated two of the patents that are owned by Apple. The two patents in question deal with a "system and method for performing an action on a structure in a computer" and a "real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data." Apple filed a complaint against HTC over 10 patents back in March 2010.
HTC has already announced it will be appealing the ITC"s decision, saying, "This is only one step of many in these legal proceedings." Apple choose to refer to a previous statement from its CEO Steve Jobs in the case, where he said, "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."
This decision is a major loss for HTC. If it loses the appeal it will have to make some kind of settlement deal with Apple. It could also affect the Android operating system in general. The article states that the patents that are under dispute "make up the core of Android"s operating system, and could have repercussions on all Android handset manufacturers."
Earlier this week, Apple filed yet another patent dispute against HTC, claiming that the company had violated five more Apple patents. Earlier this month, HTC announced that it was acquiring S3 Graphics. The move was made in part to secure patents owned by S3 Graphics that a court had already said were violated by Apple.