A legal battle between Samsung and Apple over a copyright infringement dispute covering Apple's text-selection patent could lead to the ban on the older Samsung devices in the United States.

However, the final decision by the International Trade Commission (ITC), expected by August 2013, could be an empty victory for Apple since the Galaxy S4, likely to be released by May or June is not covered by the case filed by Apple in mid-2011. By August, thousands of S4 devices could already be in the hands of American consumers.

The big if to a possible prohibition is the ITC upholding a preliminary ruling made on March 26 by an ITC judge that Samsung breached Apple's text-selection patent, RE41.922. The full commission needs to review Judge Thomas Pender's ruling.

His decision found that some Samsung devices have infringed on parts of an Apple paten that deals with text display selection on handheld units and a section of translucent buttons.

However, Mr Pender ruled that Samsung did not infringe on a patent regarding how devices recognise microphone inputs. His decision also happened at about the same time that Samsung and Google's Motorola Mobility over a patent covering the slide-to-unlock feature.

The series of lawsuits between the two tech giants are part of their courtroom battles as they slug it out for a larger share of the smartphone and tablet markets.

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