HTC's One X and Evo 4G LTE pass Customs inspections
by Steven Musil - May 29, 2012 10:25 PM PDT
The smartphones' legal limbo has been lifted and shipments are moving in to the U.S. unrestrained, the company says.
After a two-week-long Customs delay, shipments of HTC's One X and Evo 4G LTE are flowing unfettered into the U.S., the company announced today.
"HTC has completed the review process with U.S. Customs and HTC devices have been released, as they are in compliance with the ITC's ruling," the company said in a statement. "Future shipments should continue to enter the US and we are confident that we will soon be able to meet the demand for our products."
The two smartphones were put in limbo earlier this month over unresolved patent infringement issues with Apple. Shipments were held up by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, which had to inspect each model and approve their release, HTC said previously.
The delay stemmed from a decision made last December by the International Trade Commission, which
ruled that HTC infringed on Apple's patent for data detection. The process allows a mobile device to recognize items like e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and addresses in text and automatically move them to a calendar, dialer, or mapping application.
The commission, a federal agency with the power to enforce bans on products shipping to the U.S., said in its ruling that it would impose an import ban on some of HTC's products if the feature wasn't removed by April 19, 2012. In response, HTC said it was working to remove the feature.
The Taiwan handset maker said last week that its phones were
slowly making their way into the United States after completing the U.S. Customs inspections process, an announcement that was quickly followed by
announcement by Sprint that its customers could expect to begin receiving their Evo 4G LTE on Thursday.
SOURCE
HTC's One X & Evo 4G LTE pass Customs inspections
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