Bloomberg reports that the staff of the US International Trade Commission (ITC) believe that Nokia should not be found guilty of patent infringement, following legal action initiated by Apple. Apparently, a pre-hearing memo asserts that the evidence presented “will not establish a violation,” with the disputed patents invalid in some cases, and not infringed in others. The decision is not final, however, and is subject to a ruling by a judge, due in February 2011, and a subsequent review process, which is expected to be completed in mid-2011. It is, however, a significant fillip for Nokia, which has a number of other active legal actions underway against Apple.

Separately, the ITC announced further progress in two other device-related actions. It is to investigate a complaint made by Motorola which alleges patent infringements by Apple; and it is also to probe a complaint made by Microsoft, this time with Motorola as the respondent. Earlier this week, Apple countersued Motorola over device patents.