A U.S. appeals court on Thursday allowed Samsung Electronics Co. to continue selling its new smartpones in the U.S. market, reversing an injunction by a district court.

The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is part of complicated patent lawsuits between the South Korean electronics giant and Apple Inc.

Apple has accused Samsung of having copied some features of its products and asked a California district court to temporarily ban the sales of Samsung's flagship smartphones while related legal battles are under way.

Apple claimed the sales of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus hurt its business here. The lower court agreed.

The appeals court in Washington, however, said, "We hold that the district court abused its discretion in enjoining the sales of the Galaxy Nexus."

At issue in its ruling was a feature in the Galaxy Nexus that aids data searches, which Apple argues is an infringement of its patent.

The district court had decided that Apple would suffer harm because of the feature but the appeals court said Apple needs to prove that "the infringing feature drives consumer demand for the accused product." It sent back the case to the lower court. (Yonhap News)