Well, what do we have here? It looks like Apple has successfully banned the import of select HTC devices in the US, effective April 19th, 2012. The decision has been delayed twice at this point, and today the International Trade Commission has sided with Apple.
The HTC devices that are to be banned are only those that are said to violate two patents owned by Apple for ” data tapping.” It seems that HTC saw this coming, as it recently made a statement in the response to the ruling. Apparently the company already has a fix for the patents that were violated and if they can implement said fix soon enough, the ban may never even happen. Furthermore, Google itself could implement a fix of sorts and avoid Apple’s wraith going forward.
We are gratified that the commission affirmed the judge’s determination on the ‘721 and ‘983 patents, and reversed its decision on the ‘263 patent and partially on the ‘647 patent. While disappointed that a finding of violation was still found on two claims of the ‘647 patent, we are well prepared for this decision, and our designers have created alternate solutions for the ‘647 patent.
Whatever comes of this, HTC needs to act fast and update its existing products with this “fix” it speaks of. Either way, we can imagine that devices that have yet to be released will ship with whatever fix it’s created to avoid more drama.
Looks like HTC just got the hammer brought down on it, fix or not.
[Via: FossPatents, BGR]