Apple hit Samsung with a one-two punch this weekend as U.S and Dutch courts ruled against Samsung in its continuing legal battle with the iPhone manufacturer.

California District Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Samsung infringed on patents owned by Apple but warned Apple that it still needs to prove that those patents are valid under the law to win an injunction against Samsung.

In another case, a Dutch court ruled against Samsung's bid to ban Apple devices. A court in The Hague dismissed Samsung's claims that Apple infringed on its 3G communications patents. The ruling said 3G technology is now an industry standard and that Samsung doesn't have the right to restrict Apple from using it.

The decision was another in a series of setbacks the South Korean company has suffered. Last week an Australian court agreed to temporarily ban Samsung devices, including the contested Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, from Australia pending a resolution to the patent infringement case.

On Monday, Samsung said it has filed preliminary injunction motions in Australia and Japan requesting the courts stop the sale of Apple Inc's iPhone 4S in the escalating legal battle, Reuters reported.

Samsung said earlier this month that it would seek sales bans of the latest iPhone in France and Italy less than a day after the device was unveiled, claiming the product infringed upon its patents.

"In light of these violations, Samsung believes the sale of such Apple devices should be banned," Samsung said in a statement.

The companies are now fighting it out in several courts and spanning three continents. Apple fired the first shot when it sued Samsung for "slavishly copying" its iPad and iPhone designs in Samsung's Galaxy range. Samsung responded with several countersuits.

The California fight began to favor Apple when Samsung's own lawyer couldn't spot the difference between the iPad and Galaxy Tab. Koh held up both tablets in the air and asked attorney Kathleen Sullivan to identify which device was which.

"Not at this distance your honor," Sullivan replied from 10 feet away.

A Samsung lawyer did manage to identify each tablet a few moments later.

"It took a long time to make that distinction," Koh noted.

"It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad," Apple spokeswoman Kristen Huget said. "This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."

Already engaged in stiff competition, the two device makers are involved in expensive courtroom battles across three continents.

Apple has sued Samsung on claims that the Galaxy devices are "slavishly" imitating the design and functionality of the iPad and iPhone. On Thursday, an Australian federal court judge granted Apple's bid to continue an injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Injunctions were earlier issued against the Galaxy S2 and/or the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the Netherlands and Germany.

As sales have been hit by the ban, Samsung has said it will no longer allow Apple and others to have a "free ride" of its technology. Samsung early this month countered with a lawsuit seeking a ban on the sales of iPhone 4S in Italy and France on grounds that it violates Samsung's wireless patents.

Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled Oct. 4 the iPhone 4S, which has an upgraded processor, camera, software, and features as virtual assistant. While having improved specs and new features, fans have been expecting that an iPhone with an overhauled design, i.e., the iPhone 5, would be launched.

Samsung will again go head to head with Apple when the Samsung Nexus Prime is released later this month. According to reports, the Nexus Prime will be 9-mm thin, has a 4.65-inch screen, and runs on a 1.2GHz to 1.5GHz dual-core Exynos processor.

iPhone 4S on the other hand sports a 3.5-inch screen; an 8-megapixel, 1080p high-definition camera; an A5 dual-core chip processor that is seven times faster than the graphics processor in the iPhone 4; 512 MB of RAM; two antennae to transmit and receive data; CDMA and GSM connectivity; 8 hours of 3G talk-time, and new applications like Siri and Find My Friends. Siri is a voice-recognition system Siri that turns the device into a hands-free personal assistant.

iPhone 4S will use the iOS 5 platform, which boasts of 200 new features. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be the first Android phone to use the Ice Cream Sandwich platform.