A US appeals court has overturned an order by a district court in California, which granted Apple preliminary injunction banning the sales of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the US market.

The ruling, from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, is seen as a new round of legal victory for Samsung as the South Korean firm has been embroiled in a worldwide patent battle with Apple, reported Xinhua.

At the end of June, the US District Court for the Northern District of California ordered an injunction banning the sales of Galaxy Nexus at the request of Apple.

The injunction was issued based on Apple's allegation that the Samsung product infringes one of its patents about "unified search", a feature that can access information on more than one data storage location through a single interface.

Samsung then filed motion to appeal the preliminary injunction granted to Apple.
In its ruling Thursday, the appeals court found that the district court "abused its discretion" in banning the sales of the Galaxy Nexus, and therefore reversed the injunction.

"Regardless of the extent to which Apple may be injured by the sales of the Galaxy Nexus, there is not a sufficient showing that the harm flows from Samsung's alleged infringement," the appeals court said in the ruling.

The appeals court said it is sending the case back to the district court in California for further action.