Last month the International Trade Commission stated that they would start to investigate HTC’s claims that Apple infringed some of their patents.  Unfortunately for HTC, the ITC ruled in favor of Apple.

According to the ‘initial determination’ handed down by U.S. International Trade Commission presiding Judge Charles Bullock, Apple did not infringe on four HTC patents, which included power-management methods and phone-number directories used in HTC mobile devices.

HTC hasn’t had the chance to review the full initial ruling but legal experts say that HTC can request the ITC to review the ruling.  HTC General Counsel Grace Lei said, “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.”

This initial ruling is another drawback to HTC’s ongoing legal battle with Apple as the full investigation of the matter is to be completed by February 17, 2012, in which the full six-member commission in Washington may or may not choose to review the findings.

Apple is due in court on November 13, in which the ITC is expected to hand down another ruling as to whether or not Apple infringed two patents owned by S3 Graphics, which HTC acquired for $300 million from VIA Semiconductor.  Back in August, the ITC released details of a July 1 ruling that found in favor of S3 and declared that some Apple products did violate patents held by S3, but the ITC ruled against S3′s claim that some of Apple’s high-profile mobile products, including the iPad and iPhone, violated its patents, which reduces S3′s use as a bargaining chip in HTC’s legal battle with Apple. On December 6, Apple and HTC will meet again in court to hear the final ruling regarding Apple’s claims that HTC violated two of their patents.

HTC’s shares fell by 4.6% to 708.00 New Taiwan dollars (US$23.50), while Apple shares recently traded down 1.2% at $416.89.