HTC says One X and Evo 4G LTE have cleared US customs, are in compliance with ITC rulings
HTC says that it has completed the review process with US customs, and that “HTC devices have been released, as they are in compliance with the ITC's ruling.” The company's One X and Evo 4G LTE phones …
Context & Ripple Effects
The backlog is over: after US Customs began selectively releasing inspected HTC handsets earlier this month — with the company unable to say which models had cleared (customs slowly letting HTC handsets into the US) — HTC now confirms the two flagship devices caught in the queue are through. Both phones trace back to the ITC ruling of narrow technical scope Apple won against HTC in December 2011 over a data-processing patent.
The timing matters commercially: the Evo 4G LTE is Sprint's first HD-voice handset, which took $199.99 pre-orders starting May 7th and was sitting in customs as its launch window approached, while the AT&T One X is HTC's headline LTE device for 2012.
First-order effects
- Sprint and AT&T can now take delivery of the Evo 4G LTE and One X respectively, letting both launches proceed after weeks of inventory stuck at the border.
- HTC regains a compliant import path for US-bound handsets, ending the uncertainty from the December ITC exclusion order without conceding the underlying patent fight.
Second-order effects
- Customs case-by-case review has proven to be a workable but slow gate — other Android vendors facing ITC orders will plan for the same inspection lag between ruling and release.
- HTC's own complaint against Apple remains under investigation at the ITC since mid-May, so each side's market access now partly depends on the other's docket — raising the cost of escalation for both.
Third-order effects
- If exclusion orders keep getting enforced at the port of entry rather than only in court, import compliance review becomes a standard operating cost for any handset vendor sued by a rival holding ITC leverage.
- Patent disputes increasingly shape launch calendars themselves — carriers and OEMs may stagger flagship US launches around litigation risk, not just supply chains.
The trend: Smartphone patent wars are moving their front line from courtrooms to the US border, where ITC exclusion orders and customs review decide when flagships actually reach shelves.