A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday affirmed a win for Apple Inc, HTC Corp and ZTE Corp against allegations that imports of their devices infringe wireless-technology patents. The companies' smartphones, smart watches, tablets and other LTE-capable devices do not violate INVT SPE LLC's rights in two patents originally owned by Panasonic, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said. The companies and their attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment. INVT is a patent-holding company affiliated with investment funds managed by Fortress Investment Group LLC, a SoftBank Group Corp subsidiary. Fortress defeated a separate lawsuit last year brought by Apple and Intel that accused it and its affiliates, including INVT, of violating antitrust law by stockpiling thousands of patents and demanding extortionate licensing fees. Apple later dropped out of the case, which is currently on appeal.