HTC released a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, stating that multiple HTC handsets have passed the U.S. Customs inspections and are currently making their way to carriers for distribution and will most likely soon be in the hands of consumers. Unfortunately, HTC’s statement raises more questions than it really answers. HTC’s previous statements indicated that only the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G has been held up at U.S. Customs for a patent infringement inspection, but T-Mobile has recently issued a statement that the HTC Amaze 4G is also experiencing supply issues due to “an unforeseen issue with receiving the product from the manufacturer.”
Technically, the exclusion order issued by the ITC could be used to block any HTC phone which is imported into the Unites States which may be infringing on Apple’s patent. HTC claimed that they have implemented workaround which should resolve the issue, but it looks like the ITC wants to inspect HTC’s various handset models rather than taking HTC’s word that they are no longer infringing on Apple’s patent.
Handset delays like this could cause some serious financial woes for HTC, but we’re hopeful that this situation will be completely resolved within a week or two. Once handsets are inspected and cleared, there should be no more additional holdups. Hopefully HTC will plan for ITC inspections going forward with every new HTC handset that launches in the U.S. market.
[toggle_box title=”Press Release” width=”Width of toggle box”]An active clarification regarding the US Custom’s inspection status of HTC products
1.Date of occurrence of the event:2012/05/20
2.Company name:HTC Corporation
3.Relationship to the Company (please enter “head office” or “affiliate company”):Head Office
4.Reciprocal shareholding ratios:N/A
5.Cause of occurrence:Each imported HTC model must be reviewed by Customs and will be released once Customs officials have completed the inspection. Some models have gone through inspection and been released to our carriers customers. We don’t have the status of each specific device model at this time, but we are working closely with Customs. We remain confident that this issue will be resolved soon.
6.Countermeasures:N/A
7.Any other matters that need to be specified:N/A
[/toggle_box]Source: Taipei Times Via: Engadget
