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San Jose - A federal judge has rejected Apple's attempt to block the sale of several older Samsung smartphones that copied features in the iPhone.
The rebuff on Wednesday comes nearly four months after a jury awarded Apple $119m in damages for Samsung's infringements on technology used in the iPhone.
The amount was well below the $2.2bn in damages that Apple had been seeking in the latest round of legal wrangling between the world's two leading smartphone makers since the tussle began four years ago.
Apple wanted US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, to issue an order that would have prevented future US sales of nine Samsung phone models that infringed on the iPhone technology.
Koh refused, saying Apple hadn't adequately proven Samsung's intellectual theft had hurt its sales or diminished its reputation for innovation. She noted that Apple had previously licensed some of the features that Samsung infringed upon to the makers of other smartphones that competed against the iPhone, too.
Patents
Apple, which is based in Cupertino, California, declined to comment on Koh's decision.
Samsung welcomed the ruling in a statement. "We remain committed to providing American consumers with a wide choice of innovative products," Samsung said.
In its arguments, the South Korean electronics maker had argued the damages awarded to Apple amounted to a royalty payment for its past and future infringements on the patents at issue.
The patents covered the auto-correction feature in the iPhone's keyboard, the method to create links for e-mail addresses and phone numbers appearing in text and the swiping gesture for unlocking the phone's display screen.
In a reminder of technology's relentless pace, Apple is expected to unveil the eighth generation of the iPhone early in September.
Apple had wanted to ban the US sale of these Samsung models: The Admire, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy S III, and Stratosphere.
All of those devices are powered by Google's free Android operating system, an operating system that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had lambasted as a blatant rip-off of the iPhone before his death in October 2011.
Despite that though, Android-powered smartphones dominate mobile sales with 85% market share, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
After Jobs died, Apple escalated its attacks on Samsung and won $930m in damages in a separate trial completed in 2012.
Samsung also has sued Apple, and prevailed in one of its patent claims in the most recent trial. The jury awarded Samsung just $158 400 for Apple's infringement.
