The Taiwanese mobile-phone maker¹ HTC has lost a US patent battle with Apple.

台湾移动电话生产商HTC输掉了与苹果的一场专利官司。

The International Trade Commission found that HTC infringed² one patent held by the US technology giant.

Any HTC phones that uses the technology covered by the patent will be banned from sale in the US from 19 April, 2012.

Apple is currently fighting a number of global legal battles over technology rights, and had initially³ claimed that HTC was ignoring 10 patents.

According to the Reuters news agency, HTC called the ruling "a win" for the firm as it impacted only one patent, rather than the 10 as initially claimed.

"We are very pleased with the determination and we respect it," HTC said in a statement.

Minimal⁴ disruption

HTC said the patent in question related to a small user-interface feature often called "data tapping", which allowed users to grab embedded⁵ information, such as a phone number, and do something with it, such as make a call.

The company said it would completely remove it from all their phones soon.

Analysts⁶ said that this removal should allow HTC to avoid any disruption to its business in the US.

"We see a very minimal impact of this as there could be a workaround for the same technology that HTC can implement⁷（实施，执行） in the next four months," said Jayesh Easwaramony from Frost & Sullivan.