The firm has yet to decide whether to appeal the ruling.

Apple first sued Samsung in April, claiming that the South Korean firm infringed on its design rights and that Samsung's products slavishly copied Apple's iPhone and iPad.

Samsung counter-sued, and the string of legal cases now stretches from Australia to France to the United States.

Samsung said Friday's ruling covers one patent and the German court has yet to decide on the other two mobile technologies that it claims Apple infringed.

We are disappointed that the court did not share our views regarding the infringement by Apple of this specific patent in Germany, said Nam Ki-yung, a spokesman for Samsung.

It should be noted that today's ruling relates to only one of several patents asserted by Samsung in the Mannheim court.

In early December, Samsung won a round against Apple when an Australian court lifted a ban on the sale of its Galaxy tablet computer in time for the busy Christmas shopping season.

That triumph was tempered by a setback the previous day in Paris where another court rejected its bid to block sales of Apple's iPhone 4S in France.