Reuters:

Taiwan’s HTC Corp lost a patent infringement complaint filed against Apple Inc in a preliminary decision at the U.S. International Trade Commission on Monday.An ITC administrative law judge found “no violation” by Apple of four HTC patents that include technologies for power management and phone dialing.

It isn’t over for Apple with HTC though. In February a full commission is expected to rule on whether to uphold the judge’s preliminary decision.

This is only one of several patent-related lawsuits Apple is fighting. Apple is also battling Samsung, another phone manufacturer producing handsets based on Android (similar to HTC), and that’s stretching across several continents.