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Thursday May 17, 2012

HTC tumbles as patent case delays US sales


TAIPEI: US sales of two new smartphones from Taiwan's HTC Corp will be delayed due to a patent dispute with Apple Inc, a fresh blow to the company as it tries to turn around declining sales in what was once its largest market.

Shares in HTC tumbled more than 6% after it said shipments of the phones were being held up by US customs officials.

Apple scored a narrow victory against HTC in a patent lawsuit in December over technology in the smartphones, one of many such disputes in the fiercely competitive smartphone market.

HTC said in a statement yesterday that “the US availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard US customs review of shipments that is required after an International Trade Commission exclusion order.”

The two models are the first devices to be delayed since that ruling, which said that HTC phones with the disputed technology would be banned from entering the United States from April 19. - Reuters

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