The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Tuesday that it will investigate a claim by Taiwanese phone firm HTC that Apple has infringed on its patents.

The investigation will cover "certain electronic devices with communication capabilities, components thereof, and related software. The products at issue in this investigation are computers, tablet computers, and smartphones," with Apple named as the respondent. HTC filed the complaint with the ITC in August. It is one of the three complaints HTC filed against the iPad maker.

HTC accused Apple of violating three of HTC's mobile patents specifically a circuit and operating method for integrated interface in its PDA and wireless communicating system; multipoint-to-point communication using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing; and method for orderwire modulation. HTC is looking to ban Apple products including the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac computers from importation into the U.S.

The ITC has the authority to block or ban imports during an investigation while federal courts can only ban products if the defendant is found guilty of patent infringement.

Apple and HTC have been involved in a legal war over patents since March. Apple sued HTC for 20 instances of patent infringement, all dealing with technical elements in the iPhone. The ITC began investigating Apple's claim against HTC on August 9. "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it," Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, said at the time. "We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

This time the ITC said it will take only 45 days for its investigation to finish.