HTC violated two Nokia patents, US trade judge says

The preliminary ruling covers two technologies used in cellphones and tablets

Taiwan's HTC has infringed on two patents held by Nokia related to cellphones and tablets, a judge at a powerful U.S. trade court said Monday.

In a preliminary ruling, Judge Thomas Pender of the U.S. International Trade Commission said HTC has infringed U.S. patents 7,415,247 and 6,393,260.

The first covers a method for receiving and transmitting radio signals, and the second a method for eliminating unwanted signals. The two patents were among three that Nokia claimed were used by HTC in its mobile phones.

The third, U.S. patent 5,884,190, covers data communications from a computer to a mobile network. Pender found no infringement of that patent.

The initial decision is expected to be followed by a full decision in the latter part of January 2014.

The ITC has the ability to block any product from being imported into the U.S. if it's found to use technology covered in another company's patent. For that reason, the ITC has become a popular place for tech companies to file infringement cases in the past few years.

The case is investigation 337-TA-847, "Certain electronic devices, including mobile phones and tablet computers, and components thereof," at the ITC in Washington, D.C.

Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com

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