US District Court Judge Lucy Koh has denied Apple’s request for a permanent sales ban on 23 of Samsung Electronics’ older model mobile devices.
Apple and Samsung have been locked in a long patent dispute in over 10 countries, with each accusing the other of breaching their patented technologies.
Koh said having considered the parties’ arguments, the briefing, the relevant law and the record in this case, the court concludes that Apple has not established that it is entitled to the permanent injunction it seeks.
"To persuade the court to grant Apple such an extraordinary injunction ? to bar such complex devices for incorporating three touch-screen software features ? Apple bears the burden to prove that these three touch-screen software features drive consumer demand for Samsung’s products. Apple has not met this burden," Koh wrote.
The latest ruling comes ahead of another patent trial, which is due to start later in March 2014 featuring new Samsung phones.
Reacting on the judge’s latest ruling, Samsung said it was pleased.
"We agree with its observation that a few software features alone don’t drive consumer demand for Samsung products – rather consumers value a multitude of features," said the South Korean firm in a statement to Reuters.
The iPhone maker has already won US jury verdicts against the South Korean firm totalling around $930m.
