Apple wins injunction against Galaxy Nexus

Apple has been granted a pre-trial injunction in the US against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus handset.

The decision, granted late Friday by a San Francisco court, threatens to block sales of the handset in the US while the two firms argue the case in court.

In order for the injunction to take effect, Apple was required to post a $95m bond to cover possible losses by Samsung should Apple's claim be overturned.

Apple claims that the handset, developed by Samsung and Google, infringes on four of its patents, including search tools and the Siri personal assistant platform.

Experts have hailed the ruling as a major victory for Apple in its battle against Samsung over claims of patent infringement surrounding the iOS and Android operating systems. The companies are waging a similar battle in Europe.

Florian Mueller, and intellectual property expert who has been following the case, said that Apple would likely expand its claims to cover Samsung's latest devices.

"Apple is now probably going to think about requesting a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy S3 smartphone," Mueller said in a blog post.

"Earlier this month, Apple wanted to add that device as a second accused product to this process."

The ruling comes just days after Apple won an injunction against another Samsung Android product. Judges granted the company a similar ruling which could block US sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.