Whilst it is too early to tell if the newly obtained Google patent bullets that HTC fired from its legal rifle last month turned out to be blanks, the results from the Taiwanese company’s first lawsuit against Apple are in.

HTC filed its first complaint against the Cupertino-based iPhone and iPod maker with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) in May, looking to bring to an end the import and sale of Apple’s iPhone, iPad as well as the iPod in the US.

According to Reuters the HTC lost this patent infringement complaint due to a preliminary decision reached at the US ITC yesterday. An ITC administrative law judge found that there was no violation by Apple of the four HTC patents that include technologies for power management as well as phone dialing.

HTC’s general counsel Grace Lei told CNet in a statement that: “This is only one step of many in these legal proceedings.” “We are confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to protect our intellectual property.”

 

In other patent related news Samsung recently filed preliminary injunctions in Japan and Australia via which it is aiming to stop the sale of Apple’s newly launched iPhone 4S in those two countries.