The US Court of Appeals has rejected Apple’s request to ban sales of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Nexus smartphone, ahead of a trial which is scheduled for March 2014.
The rejection marks another setback for the iPhone maker in the long running patent battle with its South Korean rival.
Earlier this month, Samsung requested the US Court of Appeals to stand by its decision made last October which denied Apple’s request to ban sales of its Galaxy Nexus smartphone.
Apple originally won a ban on sales of the Galaxy Nexus in June 2012 but the decision was reversed in October by the appeals court.
The Appeals court said that the California court had abused its discretion in entering an injunction.
Recently, US District Judge Lucy Koh, refused Apple’s request to increase the $1.05bn damages awarded to it by a jury last August.
Last month, Koh also denied Apple’s request to ban 26 Samsung products from sale and said Apple had failed to prove the infringing products affected its sales.
Apple and Samsung, which are the two largest smartphone manufacturers globally, have been involved in patent wars in at least 10 countries for the last 18 months.
A report from IHS iSuppli Wireless Communications finds that Apple, along with Google, will dominate the smartphone market in coming years, accounting nearly 80% share of the smartphone market by 2016.
