Apple and Samsung scored victories against each other before a German court on Friday but the two tussling tech titans also saw legal setbacks hampering their efforts to assert dominance in the ever-growing global mobile device market.

Reuters reported that Apple suffered a defeat on its claims that Samsung had infringed on its patents, with the decision this week touching on Galaxy smartphones' slide-to-unlock feature, which the American company insists exclusive ownership.

Also, the same Mannheim regional court ruled that Apple's usage of 3G and UMTS connectivity did not violate Samsung's patent rights, further resolving the strings of legal suits that two companies have brought against each other.

According to Digital Trends, four cases have been ruled on so far and by mid-March, a German judge is expected to finalise the slide-to-unlock dispute between Apple and Samsung.

Now words were sent out by Apple regarding the decision, which in late 2011 absorbed frustrations on its efforts to prevent Samsung from selling its Galaxy smartphones and tablet in key markets around the world, most notably in the United States and Australia.

A German court, however, ruled in favour of Apple on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 case, which forced Samsung to withdraw the device from the European country.

A revised version of the tablet was later issued by the South Korean firm to finally allow German consumers to experience the Android tablet, which in early 2011 was touted as a likely iPad killer.

That suggestion never materialised, however.

In a statement, Samsung said the favourable court decision proved that the Galaxy product lines were distinct engineering creations and were not mere copycats as Apple had suggested on its complaints.

The company also indicated that it will further contest the new court decision, declaring that an appeal will be filed before the Karlsruhe High Regional Court, the same court that settled the separate battle between Apple and Motorola last week.

Legal disputes among tech firms have been sprouting since last year as industry players try to assume position of advantages in segments of the sector that generate billions of dollars in revenues.

The mobile device competition has so far produced legal cases being waged by Apple, Samsung and Motorola Mobility, the latter deemed as launching a representative fight at the behest of Google, which had acquired the company last year.

Google, analysts said, purchased Motorola for its thousands of patent ownerships in mobile technology.

And this year, companies engage in the expanding social media sphere have started securing their patent territories, with the latest case of Yahoo demanding licensing deals with current social networking leader, Facebook.

Yahoo has yet to outline its specific claims against Facebook, which for now is confined on private negotiation stage, but experts have offered that once a deal has been struck between the two firms, billions could exchange hands.