Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2012/07/03/itc_denies_emergency_htc_ban/
ITC denies Apple an emergency ban on ALL HTC PHONES
Just one letter separates ITC and HTC. Coincidence?
Posted in On-Prem, 3rd July 2012 10:44 GMT
US regulator the International Trade Commission has denied Apple's attempt to get an emergency ban on all HTC mobes.
The fruity firm is accusing HTC of violating an existing exclusion order that's been in effect since December. The ITC issued the ban after finding that HTC was infringing on a patent that allows folks to isolate data such as phone numbers in emails and then call the number.
HTC said the feature wasn't essential and claims to have removed all trace of the software from its phones. However, Apple alleges that the firm has been telling porkies to customs officials to slide its mobes past them.
The ITC said that it was launching an investigation into Apple's claims, but it wouldn't issue an emergency ban on all HTC units while it's looking into things.
"The Commission will not direct Customs to detain all subject HTC products because the Commission does not have the information necessary to determine whether the respondents are currently violating the Commission’s limited exclusion order," the ITC said on its website.
"The facts recited by Apple in its submission do not conclusively demonstrate that HTC’s representations were inaccurate at the time that they were made."
New phones from HTC, the One X and the EVO 4G LTE, were held up at customs for at least a month as officials checked the mobes for the naughty patent-infringing tech, but they were let through at the end of May.
An ITC judge will now have to set up a timetable for the investigation and the initial determination in the case. ®