[JURIST] US International Trade Commission (ITC) [official website] Judge Thomas Pender [official profile] on Monday issued a preliminary ruling [text, PDF] holding that HTC infringed on two patents for mobile technology held by Nokia [corporate websites]. The patents have to do with receiving and sending signals [Reuters report] from mobile telephones and tablets. The full ITC is scheduled to make a final decision on the matter on January 23. Nokia has asked the ITC to block several of HTC products from being sold in the US, such as the HTC Amaze 4G, the Inspire 4G, Flyer, Jetstream, Radar 4G, Rezound and Sensation 4G.

Nokia has a long history [JURIST news archive] of holding other companies accountable in the courts. Nokia filed suit [JURIST report] against HTC in May for selling products in the US that infringe Nokia’s patents on mobile technology, bringing the total number of world-wide patent suits between the two up to 50. In March 2011 Nokia announced that it had filed complaints [JURIST report] against Apple with the ITC. That complaint alleged that Apple violated seven patents regarding various technological devices and their operating systems. Previous to that announcement, Nokia and Apple had both sued each other over more than 20 patents in more than four countries.