ITC judge rules Samsung infringed Apple's text-selection patent

Things have taken a nasty turn for Samsung in its ongoing patent battle worldwide against Apple thanks to a new ruling by the International Trade Commission.

Specifically, a federal judge ruled that Samsung infringed upon an Apple patent regarding a text-selection feature on smartphones and tablets, according to Reuters.

However, the preliminary ruling also declared that Samsung didn't infringe upon a second patent owned by Apple, which enables devices to detect if another device is connected through the microphone jack.

The international news service specified that the decision actually came out on March 26, but it had been kept confidential until late Thursday.

Back in January, the ITC was actually persuaded by Samsung to review a preliminary decision that a number of its products infringed upon Apple-owned patents.

The ITC took the case with part of it being sent back to ITC Judge Thomas Pender. Now it looks like that plan somewhat backfired for the Galaxy smartphone maker.

Now the case will be presented before the entire commission with a vote expected this August to uphold or overturn today's ruling.

If that vote goes in Apple's favor, it means that Samsung could be banned from selling products within the United States that infringe upon that patent.