ITC probes HTC's alleged patent violations

HELSINKI,  FINLAND: The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has started to investigate whether smartphone maker HTC Corp has infringed Apple's mobile technology patents, the ITC said in a statement on its website.

Apple sued HTC last month in the U.S. district court in Delaware and asked ITC to investigate whether the Taiwanese firm infringes its patents in a case seen as an indirect attack against Google's Android software.

The Taiwanese firm said in March it was confident it could defend itself.