Apple seems to be continuing its legal winning streak against the Taiwanese smartphone and tablet maker HTC, which it began during its court battles with Samsung. The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has found that the Cupertino-based iPhone and iPod maker isn’t violating patents held by S3 Graphics, which HTC is in the process of acquiring, and has decided to cease its investigation on this matter.  

According to CNet, a mixed ruling in this patent matter was reached during July, when an ITC judge found that Apple was infringing on two of S3 Graphics’ patents, but that the Cupertino tech firm didn’t infringe on a two other patents.

S3 Graphics filed a patent lawsuit against Apple on 28 May 2010 that dealt with systems and methods for compressing and decompressing image data amongst others. The final decision was due last week, but the ITC postponed it to this week, without providing any reasons for the postponement.

“Having examined the record of this investigation...the Commission has...[found] no violation,” James R. Holbein, secretary to the ITC stated in the notice.  

“We are disappointed, but respect the ITC’s decision,” Grace Lei, HTC's general counsel said in a statement. "While the outcome is not what we hoped for, we will review the ruling once the commission provides it and will then consider all options, including appeal."

 

In other patent related news Apple has been allowed to continue selling its iPhone 4S in Australia until March next year, at which time a patent infringement case by Samsung against Apple will be heard in an Australian Federal Court.