HTC has confirmed that US Customs is holding shipments of the HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE smartphones. An International Trade Commission (ITC) ban is in place, preventing the customs release while a review of the shipments for non-infringement of Apple patents is underway. HTC has protested the hold, saying it believes the phones are no longer in violation of the sales injunction applied by the ITC.
The ITC ruling determined that the messaging and browser apps in Android violated Apple’s patents on clickable objects like phone numbers and emails. The ban was affirmed on December 19, 2011 and enforcement started on April 19.
HTC stated in December that they had a plan to make their phones compliant with the terms of the injunction. US Customs is now investigating the phones to be sure that they do not violate Apple’s patent. No timetable for customs release has been announced.
The HTC One X has already been released by AT&T and stocks are reported to be running low both online and at retail. The HTC Evo 4G LTE is scheduled to be released by Sprint on May 18.
