Apple has won the initial ITC patent ruling against HTC, reports PCWorld. A judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission gave the initial ruling in the patent case in favor of Apple. According to the judge, HTC has infringed two Apple patents. This ruling will now be sent for a review to a larger panel of ITC judges.

If this judgment turns out to be the final judgment, HTC will be in danger of being banned from importing phones to the U.S.

The ITC ruling is being seen as the fresh blow to Google’s Android OS. The Android is under attack from a number of Google’s competitors including Apple, Microsoft and Oracle. There are reports that Microsoft is approaching Android handset makers and requesting them to license its technology.

“Apple filed suit on 10 of its patents against HTC, but based on the judge’s initial decision today only prevailed on 2 of those patents,” said Grace Lei, general counsel for HTC. “HTC will vigorously fight these two remaining patents through an appeal before the ITC Commissioners who make the final decision. We are confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to defend ourselves using all means possible,” added Lei.

According to some experts, Apple has the choice to license the technology to HTC, but it will do so only when HTC has some patents that Apple needs in return.