Samsung Electronic has suffered another setback in its patent battle with Apple in the U.S. as a California district court banned the sale of its Galaxy Nexus smartphone following an order to halt the sales of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet PC last week.

The Northern District Court of California on Friday granted Apple's request for an injunction blocking the sale of the Galaxy Nexus. The ban goes into effect as soon as Apple posts a bond with the court.

The court accepted Apple's claim that Samsung infringed on its patent for "data mining" features, which help users search data not only online but also from an embedded database.

Samsung is appealing and also asked the district court to suspend the ban until the appellate court reaches a decision.

The Galaxy Nexus is one of about 10 smartphones Samsung sells in the U.S. It is not a flagship model like the Galaxy S series but is the first model that features Google's newest Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

Samsung said the sales ban will not cause it huge losses but did not disclose exact sales figures.

Aside from the latest preliminary injunction, Samsung faces a main court hearing against Apple in the U.S. from July 30.