Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC will buy back up to 20 million of its own shares before Sept 17, or about 2.4 percent of its outstanding shares, returning half to staff and retiring the rest.

It said in weekend statements that the buyback price will be between T$900 ($31) and T$1,100 per share. The first 10 million will be bought back from July 18 and the second from August 18.

On Friday Apple Inc won a preliminary ruling from a U.S. trade panel that HTC infringed on two of the California company's patents.

(Reporting by Jonathan Standing)

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