HTC is in a tough spot as two of its new flagship smartphones — smartphones it desperately needs to make available in the United States as it attempts to mount a comeback — are currently held up in Customs due to a patent spat with Apple. The Taiwan-based vendor issued a statement earlier this week claiming that its devices comply with an order issued by the International Trade Commission, thus suggesting the ITC will release the shipments soon. According to a report from The Verge, this is indeed the case and HTC used custom Android builds to dodge the Apple patents in question. The report claims HTC circumvented the use of Apple’s protected “data tapping” functionality by implementing a new settings menu that allows the user to adjust default app associations. HTC and Sprint will still miss the scheduled launch of the EVO 4G LTE but if the report is accurate, HTC’s new flagship phones should clear Customs soon.
HTC to beat Apple patent predicament with custom Android builds
Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:25PM EST
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Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.
His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.
