Administrative Law Judge James Gildea, in a preliminary ruling issued Friday, found that Apple has not infringed Samsung patents related to mobile communication devices, portable music and data processing devices and tablet computers. Gildea also ruled that for four other Samsung patents, a U.S. industry does not exist, suggesting that the USITC does not have jurisdiction to rule on those patents.
The USITC will release a detailed explanation of Gildea's ruling at a later date.
Samsung filed the so-called section 337 complaint against Apple in June 2011, one of several patent complaints the two companies have filed against each other in recent years. In August, a California jury after finding that Samsung had infringed several Apple patents.
Representatives of both companies were not immediately available for comment.
Samsung had accused Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad of violating its patents. Samsung had asked the USITC to bar Apple from importing those products into the U.S.