Sales ban on Samsung's tablet remains in U.S. until trial

Samsung's latest effort to get the U.S. sales ban of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 lifted was derailed today.

In a court order (PDF), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied Samsung's request to suspend a preliminary injunction on its tablet that rival Apple won against it last month.

As intellectual property tracking blog FOSS Patents points out, this decision was coupled with another rejection (PDF) of Samsung's request to expedite an appeal on the matter.

"We will continue to pursue a request for an appeal of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 preliminary injunction, which we filed on June 26 to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit," a Samsung spokesperson told CNET in a statement.

This is the second such rejection to hit Samsung in its efforts to suspend the injunction. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh denied the company's requestto have the sales ban suspended until a decision was made in the case between the two companies. That particular trial starts on July 30.

As a quick refresher, Apple sued Samsung last April, claiming the company was copying the design, as well as software features in its products. Samsung sued Apple back, and the two companies have been in a legal battle ever since. Along the way, both companies have attempted to block the sales of one another's products in various countries, including the U.S., primarily by making patent infringement claims.

This particular injunction is preliminary, and was granted on June 26. It centered on one of Apple's key design patents for the iPad, which depicts a rectangular, tablet device. In its counter-argument, Samsung has repeatedly referred to that design as "generic."

Updated at 4:55 p.m. PT with a statement from Samsung.