US International Trade Commission opens door to HTC import ban

Group rules ban in Apple case would not harm consumers

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled in favour of allowing a ban on certain HTC devices after accusations of patent infringement by Apple.

The ITC does not believe that competition in the US or public interest will be harmed should the government ban the import of the HTC devices, having ruled earlier this week that HTC had violated Apple patents with its handset models.

The ruling comes as Apple continues its legal campaign against Android tablet and handset vendors. Along with HTC, Apple has targeted Samsung with suits in the US, Europe and Australia. Authorities in Germany and the Netherlands have ruled in favour of Apple in a number of filings.

The ruling also follows revelations that former Apple chief executive Steve Jobs had vowed to wage "thermonuclear war" against Android developers over alleged patent infringement.

Patents expert Florian Mueller suggested that the ITC ruling falls in line with Jobs' agenda for blocking Android devices, and that Jobs "would have loved to read all of the above".

"The Office of Unfair Import Investigations [OUII] doesn't believe there's an infringement of valid patents in this case, but if the ITC agrees with the [administrative law judge] and Apple, then the OUII believes that an import ban is perfectly appropriate and that the enforceability of intellectual property is an overarching public interest consideration," he said in a blog post.