A US judge has denied a legal request by Apple to ban sales of Samsung smartphones that the American tech giant said illegally used its technology. The decision is part of a series of rulings that US Judge Lucy Koh said she is releasing over a period of several weeks to address the many legal issues raised in the case. Her ruling comes after Apple was awarded 1.05 billion dollars in damages this year, the Daily Express reports.

Apple had urged the judge to permanently ban the US sales of eight Samsung smartphone models that a jury said in August illegally used Apple technology, while also seeking to add millions more to the award. Earlier this month Judge Koh appeared ready to trim the billion-dollar jury verdict Apple won over Samsung Electronics, but gave no indication as to by how much. Adding to the legal tangle, Apple filed a second lawsuit earlier this year, alleging that Samsung''s newer products are unfairly using Apple's technology. According to the report, Apple lawyer Harold McElhinny claimed earlier this year that Samsung wilfully made a business decision to copy Apple''s iPad and iPhone, and he called the jury''s 1.05 billion-dollar award a ‘slap in the wrist’.

Samsung lawyer Charles Verhoeven has argued that Apple was trying to tie up Samsung in courts around the world rather than competing with it head-on, the report said. The Korean mobile maker has also claimed that it was deprived of a fair trial in a court about 12 miles from Apple''s California, headquarters, the report added. -ANI