(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday rejected a request by Samsung Electronics Co. to lift a ban on U.S. sales of its Galaxy Tab 10.1, another setback for the South Korean firm in its tablet patent battle with iPad maker Apple Inc.
Apple and Samsung, the world's largest consumer electronics corporations, are waging legal war in several countries, accusing each other of patent violations as they vie for supremacy in a fast-growing market for mobile devices.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, last week granted a requst by Apple to halt sales of the tablet, which runs on Google Inc's (GOOG.O) Android, giving the iPhone maker a significant win.
Samsung had asked the court to stay the injunction pending resolution of an appeal.
"Samsung is disappointed with the court's decision that denied our motion to stay. We believe today's ruling will ultimately reduce the availability of superior technological features to consumers in the U.S.," a Samsung spokeswoman told Reuters.
The spokeswoman added that Samsung will continue to pursue a request for an appeal of the preliminary injunction.
Samsung has already appealed to a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, which has exclusive jurisdiction over intellectual property disputes.
Samsung is also fighting an injunction issued by Koh on Friday against the sale of its Galaxy Nexus phone, another significant win for Apple as pre-trial injunctions are rarely granted.
An Apple spokeswoman reiterated the company's previous comment that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad.
"This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas," the spokeswoman said.
Apple sold 13.6 million iPads in January-March to control 63 percent of the global tablet market, according to research from Display Search. Samsung sold 1.6 million tablets, giving it 7.5 percent of the market.
The case is U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 11-1846.
(Reporting By Erin Geiger Smith; additional reporting by Sakthi Prasad; Editing by Richard Pullin)