HTC Phones Cool Their Heels in US Customs Due to Ban

Shipments of two new HTC smartphones have been seized for inspection by US Customs because of the limited import ban Apple got from the International Trade Commission in mid-December. HTC was found to have infringed an Apple patent on “data tapping.” That’s when you, say, tap on a phone number and the dingus dials it for you. The Taiwan company wouldn’t be in this predicament if it had followed through on its initial decision to just rip the functionality out. Instead it ultimately decided on a workaround and the customs people are checking to see if it’s abiding by the rules. That means that the HTC One X that AT&T just started selling out of shipments that beat the ban’s April 19 enforcement date is now listed as “out of stock” and the HTC Evo 4G LTE that Sprint was to start selling this Friday has been put on hold. Sprint is taking pre-orders.

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