The International Trade Commission in Washington recently ruled in its initial determination that Samsung Electronics infringed four of its rival Apple Inc.’s patents, sources said Friday.

Although the document filed earlier this week was labeled confidential, it is widely believed that Thomas Pender, administrative law judge at the ITC, was most likely to have ruled that Samsung had violated four Apple patents, including one for the design of the iPhone.

The same administrative judge had said on Oct. 24 of last year that Samsung was in violation of Apple’s intellectual property.

A final ruling on the case is scheduled to be released on Aug. 1.

“At this point the document has to be redacted so as not to disclose confidential business information, and this process typically takes a few weeks,” said Florian Mueller, a Munich-based intellectual property analyst, on his blog FOSS Patents.

The ITC in Washington has the authority to ban imports of patent-infringing products into the U.S., which is one of the world’s top consumer markets.

Decisions reached by the ITC are often considered to be more reasonable because the ITC administrative law judges must provide a more detailed technical justification for their ruling compared to a jury. Its final determination also undergoes a presidential review.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)