Apple Loses Bid for Emergency Ban on HTC Phone Imports

[pic]

HTC Corp. (2498) can continue to bring its newest smartphones into the U.S. while a trade
agency investigates whether the phones violate an order that the Taiwanese company stop infringing an Apple Inc. (AAPL) (AAPL) patent.

The U.S. International Trade Commission yesterday instituted an investigation into Apple’s claim that HTC continues to infringe a patent in violation of an order issued in December. The agency denied an emergency request to have the HTC phones, including the One X and EVO 4G LTE, detained at the U.S. border. Notice was posted on the agency’s electronic docket.

HTC’s phones were held up at the border in May, delaying plans by Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) (S) to sell the HTC EVO 4G. The phones, made in Taiwan, were allowed into the U.S. after HTC[..]ured U.S. Customs and Border Protection that it had worked around the Apple patent.

Shares of the Taiwanese company added 0.8 percent to NT$393.50 as of 9:18 a.m. in Taipei, heading for its highest close in almost four weeks. The benchmark Taiex (TWSE) index climbed 0.3 percent.

The patent covers a system to detect telephone numbers in e-mails so, when the number on the screen is tapped, they can be stored in directories or called without dialing.

Apple Complaint

Apple filed a complaint last month, accusing HTC of making inaccurate representations to customs officials to bypa#s the import ban, known as an exclusion order.

“The commission finds that Apple has not demonstrated the propriety of temporary emergency action here,” the Washington- based agency wrote. “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.”

HTC said its mobile devices and software were redesigned, and that Apple was making legal arguments regarding infringement it hadn’t made in the original case.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, had asked that all HTC phones that run on Google Inc. (GOOG) (GOOG)’s Android operating system be stopped at the border.

One Series

“HTC confirmed that the notice was received, as an expected matter of process, and will vigorously defend its case,” the company said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg News today. Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Apple, didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.



Apple Loses Bid for Emergency Ban on HTC Phone Imports - Businessweek

Apple such !!a#s company their phone sales is declining and they are trying to slow others down. !!s.

even though i own some apple products: !! you apple.

I own an iphone and a macbook and glad they got shut down that really is a !![..] move. I'm starting to get really fed up with this macbook too !! could not be slower for a $1000 laptop but thats mainly because of the operating system...very close to just installing windows on it.

If you cant hang get the !! out the game... Apple isnt going away

their sales are declining?

oh wait thats right, go ahead and put up a chart that shows a phone released 2 weeks ago is outselling a phone released 9 months ago [pic]

[pic] @ emergency ban. Apple really looks !!in desperate lately. Now, more than ever, Android devices are finally starting to be more impressive than iPhones. Been that way for a while really, but the latest phones to come out are really worrying them. Once we get the quad-core options later this year I expect Tim Cook's head to explode.

Over time, iPhone has steadily declined and Android steadily gained. Yes, sales are slowing. Don't look at it so simply.

this is getting ridiculous. how can all android makers get along, even with microsoft and all its patents, but apple cant?

Because Apple wants to completely stop all sales of Android phones. MS just wants to get paid for patents. The actual intent of patents in the first place was to make sure the inventor was paid sufficiently for his/her work. Not to ban other products and stifle technology. The system has been abused over time. Apple being the latest abuser.

I am sure if Apple was willing to license some of its patents, the phone manufacturers would pay instead of heading to court. Even on questionable patents. They did so with MS, I do not see why they wouldn't have with Apple. At this point probably not, but back in the beginning they would have. Apple has just had a personal vendetta against Android. This is more than just business. They take it personal. Steve Jobs took it personal.