SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday a German court has rejected Apple Inc's request to impose a sales ban on a modified version of its tablet computer in the European country.

   A regional court in Dusseldorf on Wednesday rejected Apple's bid to impose a preliminary sales ban on Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab 10.1N tablet computer, according to the Korean firm.

   "The ruling confirmed that the Galaxy Tab 10.1N is distinctive and does not infringe the rights asserted by Apple," it said.

   The Galaxy Tab 10.1N is a modified version of its predecessor Galaxy Tab 10.1, whose sales were banned in Germany following a court injunction.

   The decision came only one week after Samsung won a similar patent battle with Apple in Germany, which sought to impose a preliminary ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1N and Nexus smartphones in the country.

   Samsung and Apple have been engaged in heated patent disputes in around 30 cases in 10 countries since April last year, when the U.S. company accused Samsung Electronics of copying its iPhone and iPad. Samsung fought back with a series of countersuits.

   The patent tussles between the two have been drowned out as courts across the globe have mostly rejected the firms' respective motions to impose sales bans on each other's mainstay smart devices.

   However, Samsung Electronics suffered from setbacks twice in January and February as it failed to prove that Apple infringed on its mobile telecommunication technology in Germany.

   In addition, European regulators have launched a probe into Samsung Electronics to determine whether the South Korean tech giant violated antitrust rules in European mobile device markets.

   The European Commission has focused its probe on suspicions that Samsung abused its right to the so-called standard essential patents in pushing for lawsuits against its competitors.

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