The ongoing patent battle between Samsung and Apple has become nothing short of complicated: A U.S. appeals court has reversed an injunction by a district court on Oct. 11, which allows Samsung Electronics Co. to resume selling its new smartphones in the U.S. market.

A California district court had temporarily banned sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus phone after agreeing with Apple that the Nexus affected sales of Apple phones in the area. Apple’s claims are based on patent infringement related to its Siri feature, a voice-operated search function.

The appeals court in Washington, however, disagreed. It wrote in its ruling, “We hold that the district court abused its discretion in enjoining the sales of the Galaxy Nexus.“

Further, the appeals court ruled that the patent holder needs to show that “the infringing feature drives consumer demand for the accused product,” and that Apple had only presented “limited” evidence of such link.

The case has now been sent back to the lower court.

By Park So-eun (spark@heraldcorp.com)