HTC Phones Can Be Banned in US

HTC continues its struggle to remain among the leading smartphone brands in the US. In fact, Nielsen ratings accord the brand the third place in the US among smartphone manufactures. But the company’s image can be greatly stained because of its constant legal battles against other giants of that industry, for instance against Apple. Nearly all legal suits concern the reported illegal use of copyrighted technologies by HTC, and this particular detail is most annoying for HTC.

In July International Trade Court (ITC) made a decision, which states HTC did use Apple’s technology illegally. Naturally HTC disagreed and appealed that decision. This Wednesday ITC should take another decision on the issues, but this time related to the above mentioned appeal by HTC. In case ITC affirms its previous decision, HTC can appear in a big trouble, for the decision can include a total ban of HTC smartphone import to the US territory. This concerns also Google, which has accused its competitors of a hostile and organized campaign against Android, in which “bogus patents” are mingled.

ITC previously ruled HTC did not infringe mobile camera patent rights in a legal battle with FlashPoint Technology, which is Apple’s daughter company. Apple went to court with similar cases against RIM, Nokia and LG, but all the issues were settled out of the court room, while HTC did go to court and won the case. Even if ITC decides to ban HTC phones in the US, still HTC can appeal this ruling again, taking it to the US federal courts.

Source