So the interwebs are abuzz right now about International Trade Commission and the U.S. Government stopping shipments of Sprint’s EVO 4G LTE (and the HTC One X for that matter) due to an wide ranging exclusion order Apple won against HTC back in December. Apple owns patent #5,946,647  which deals with hyper links in the messaging app and browser on Android devices (though this particular exclusion order specifically targets HTC probably due to the code used in Sense UI). HTC released a statement that can be found here in the report we published yesterday. We just got an official statement from Sprint regarding the devices availability :

• HTC EVO 4G LTE availability

The U.S. availability of the HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed.  HTC is working to resolve this issue and appreciates your patience as they work to get products into Sprint channels. We can’t provide specific timing for product availability at this time and we appreciate your patience as HTC works to get products on store shelves as soon as possible.

• Pre-order status/availability

Delivery of products for pre-order are on hold and Sprint will provide a ship date as soon as possible. Sprint will maintain the promise for the preorder customers that they will be among the first to receive their HTC EVO 4G LTE units.

While we’d rather you didn’t cancel your pre-order, there are instructions provided in the backorder email on how to do so.  I’ve pasted them here for your reference:

If you would like to select an alternate product or cancel your backordered item, please call 866-789-8292 between 8:00 a.m. EST to 11:00 p.m. EST Monday to Friday or 9:00 a.m. EST to 9:00 p.m. EST on Saturdays and Sundays.Please note that cancellation requests may not always process successfully due to the speed of warehouse processing.If you cancelled your backordered item but still received a shipment, please refuse the shipment or call us to process a return within 14 days of receipt.

 

So it looks like we are in limbo regarding the device. Speaking with A Sprint Supervisor moments ago, we were told that pre orderers can still expect the device and 2 to 5 days and that they really didn’t expect any prolonged delays. This sounds about right as HTC is NOT in violation of the patents in question as was first thought and that this is a standard procedure when an exclusion order has been issued. That being said somebody dropped the ball. Those devices should have never been promised until this was cleared up but this is how this stuff goes with the U.S. Government etc. More to come.

Marvin Ferrell El

Kidromulous

Long time technology writer and editor. Marvin Ferrell El aka Kidromulous is the founder of Androidian REVolution. Being big on community he guides the site as a community driven and run Android news source like no other. He has written at various sites including Android Creative Syndicate and Android Headlines and writes freelance at other publications of note as well. His google plus page has nearly 3k followers and can be found at gplus.to/Marvin Ferrell

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