The company moved the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division last month for a preliminary injunction prohibiting Samsung and its U.S. subsidiaries from infringing Apple's (D'889 patent), including by selling in the U.S. the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

In a May 14 opinion the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had concluded "that Apple had shown that it was likely to suffer irreparable harm from the sales of Samsung's infringing tablets," and disagreed with the District Court's conclusion that Apple had failed to show that it was likely to succeed on the merits, according to a filing by Apple.

The appeals court remanded to the District Court to assess the balance of hardships and public interest factors.

Apple filed in July last year for a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, which had been released about four months earlier, as well as several Samsung smartphones. It alleged that Samsung had infringed the D'889 patent, as well as a utility patent.

District Judge Lucy Koh said Monday that the court determines that it may not rule on Apple's request for a preliminary injunction prior to the issuance of the mandate from the Federal Circuit.