On July 15, local time, an administrative law judge of the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) initially ruled that HTC infringed on Apple’s two patents, which signified Apple's preliminary victory in the patent warfare with HTC.

HTC said in a statement that the company infringed two of Apple's ten patents. The ITC still needs to make a final decision on the case. If it fails, HTC’s infringing products will be prohibited from selling in the United States.

HTC said it will appeal the case. Grace Lei, HTC’s general counsel, said, “HTC will appeal this ruling to members of ITC. This is just one step in the entire legal process.”

The representative of Apple mentioned the statement made during the complaint against HTC last year. Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, said in a statement, “We think that competition is beneficial, but competitors should develop their own original technology instead of stealing our technology.”

If the appeal is not successful, HTC will have to reach a settlement agreement with Apple. HTC’s loss will be a blow to all Android handset makers and may prompt Apple to sue other companies. It is reported that the patent involved in the case will affect all Android mobile phone manufacturers.

HTC is considered to be the legally most problematic Android handset vendor because it lacks a large number of patents. Earlier this month, HTC acquired S3 Graphics, mainly due to its patents.