Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been a few months since the International Trade Commission affirmed its decision to ban a selection of Motorola‘s Android portfolio from import, but the ruling will only start in earnest from today. While the ITC mentioned the likes of the Google-powered Atrix, Xoom, Droid 2 — alongside a whole pile of lesser-known models– the exclusion covers all Motorola devices that infringe on Microsoft’s patents for email-based meeting scheduling. Motorola has stated that it has already been proactive in ensuring its phones remain available in the US — the ruling won’t affect devices already in stock.

In its own words: “In view of the ITC exclusion order which becomes effective Wednesday with respect to the single ActiveSync patent upheld in Microsoft’s ITC-744 proceeding, Motorola has taken proactive measures to ensure that our industry-leading smartphones remain available to consumers in the U.S. We respect the value of intellectual property and expect other companies to do the same.”

Import ban on select Motorola Android products starts today originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 09:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It wasn’t that long ago that Apple scored an injunction against the HTC One X and the EVO 4G LTE in the United States. The handsets were eventually let into the country once HTC proved the phones were no longer infringing Apple’s patent. Cupertino cried foul, saying that HTC continued to infringe the menu related patent on 29 devices. The company called on the ITC to issue an emergency ban, a request which has now been denied.

Apple suggested last month that HTC misled customs officials over the software on phones to get past the ban, although the ITC doesn’t share the same thoughts: “The commission finds that Apple has not demonstrated the propriety of temporary emergency action here. The commission will not direct Customs to detail 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.”

It was previously reported that the version of Android HTC has included on phones such as the One X and EVO 4G LTE have been modified to remove the infringing patent. The international version of the One X shows the context menu that appears when a user long taps an item, whereas the American version removes this and places the relevant options in Android’s Settings area. As a result, the custom ban was lifted on the handsets and began shipping to retail stores.

[via Bloomberg]

Apple denied emergency HTC handset ban is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Just like they have been, products like the One X and EVO 4G LTE will continue to pour through US Customs, as the ITC has now denied Apple’s request for an emergency ban against the alleged infringing products. The news follows Apple’s request for an emergency ban itself, in which the Cupertino outfit accused HTC of making false statements in order to bypass the terms of an exclusion order issued last December. In the most recent ruling, the ITC found that, “Apple has not demonstrated the propriety of temporary emergency action,” and went on to state, “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.” Just yesterday, the ITC began an investigation to determine whether HTC’s products continue to violate a patent held by Apple, which would be a violation of December’s exclusion order. Until the ITC issues a more definitive finding, however, it seems that HTC can breathe a sigh of relief.

ITC denies Apple’s request for emergency ban against HTC products originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 22:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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