Apple Inc has again asked the court to stop the sales of Samsung Electronics Co products in the US, Bloomberg reported. The products are no longer on the market and were an issue in the first patent trial between the two firms in California.

Apple asked US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California to ban the sales of over 20 smartphones and tablets that a jury last year said infringed on the patents of the iPhone maker. These products include the Galaxy S 4G and the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Koh had rejected Apple's request for a sales ban on the said devices after last year's decision was given, but on November 18, a federal appeals court paved the way for Apple to follow through with its injunction against some of Samsung's products, the report said. 

In a filing yesterday, Apple said, "Samsung's claim that it has discontinued selling the particular models found to infringe or design around Apple's patents in no way diminishes Apple's need for injunctive relief. Because Samsung frequently brings new products to market, an injunction is important to providing Apple the relief it needs to combat any future infringement by Samsung through products not more than colorably different from those already found to infringe."

Citing an opinion from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, the report said that Apple could customize its request to concentrate on the infringement of patents that covered features of the smartphone like multitouch technology that brought up during the trial last year. The opinion said Apple could not block its rival's products for infringing patented designs.

The report said the legal fees of the top two smartphone manufacturers in the world have reached hundreds of millions of dollars as they exchange allegations that they have copied each other's features.