Following the International Trade Commission’s ruling that HTC infringed upon an iPhone (News - Alert) patent of Apple, a federal agency is siding with the decision.

The U.S. International Trade Commission said this week that effective April 19, 2012, a ban will be put in place for importing HTC phones that infringe patent No. 647, The Associated Press (News - Alert) reported.

The ITC said in a final ruling that HTC Corp. may import some refurbished phones to offer customers as replacements under warranties and insurance plans. HTC, which is based in Taiwan, makes a number of Google (News - Alert) Android-powered mobile devices.

In an e-mailed statement to The AP, HTC general counsel Grace Lei said “the patent in question affects a small part of the user experience and it will soon remove it from any affected phones,” according to the report.

The AP said that Apple (News - Alert) spokeswoman Kristen Huguet reiterated an earlier statement, saying “competitors should create their own technology.”

The case is part of a wider smartphone maker battle involving Apple, HTC (News - Alert) and other phone makers. HTC and Apple have been embroiled in a continuing legal conflict. Earlier this year, Techzone 360 reported that HTC remained confident it has strong grounds – for an appeal of an ITC initial ruling – that the company violated two Apple patents.

In federal courts and before the ITC, phone makers have been accusing one another of stealing ideas for popular phone features. In a counterclaim against Apple, HTC Corp. is using nine patents bought from Google Inc. to pursue action against Apple Inc.

According to media reports, Apple Inc. had initially complained about HTC violating several of its patents in April 2010, however the commission narrowed its decision down to just one patent, The AP said. Last month, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that Apple did not violate HTC’s patent.