Samsung's ongoing feud with Apple took another turn this week as the South Korean firm asked the US International Trade Commission to ban Apple from importing the latest iPhone and iPad devices. The complaint was filed Wednesday amid a growing patent dispute.

Samsung Electronics has been embroiled with Apple over patent lawsuits since April when Apple sued Samsung in a California federal court for copying the iPhone and iPad designs in its smartphones and tablets. Samsung responded by filing a countersuit against Apple in South Korea and the US alleging that Apple violated its patents. Just last week Apple filed a lawsuit in South Korea against Samsung. The latest suit by Samsung in the ITC is over Apple's patent violations held by Samsung.

In a statement Samsung said that: "The complaint requests relief in the form of a permanent exclusion order prohibiting entry to the United States of all Apple products in violation of these patents," adding that the items include the iPhone 4, iPad 2 and iPod Touch.

The complaint was allowed because even though Apple is a US company many of its products are assembled in China and exported to the US. Apple users don't have to worry about stores running out of iPads and iPhones. The ITC usually takes 12 to 18 months to resolve import cases that deal with intellectual property rights. Even then Samsung may not even get to ban Apple products as such cases usually end with licensing fees payments not a total ban.

Samsung's latest move in the ongoing legal drama could actually backfire on the tech giant. Apple is after all one of Samsung's biggest customers with Apple buying $7.8 billion for LCD's, processors and flash memory. If the lawsuits continue to escalate the mutually profitable relationship between the two firms could deteriorate. There are already rumors that Apple may transfer its business to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company for its mobile device components. Potentially losing Apple as a customer hasn't fazed Samsung as both companies seem to be in this standoff to the bitter end.