­A US Court of Appeal has overturned the ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the country.

The court ruled that the Californian district court had "abused its discretion in entering an injunction" when it banned the phone from being sold back in June. The Appeal Court said that Apple had failed to demonstrate that consumers were choosing to buy the Samsung smartphone because of its alleged infringements of Apple's patents.

The case has been sent back to the District Court for reconsideration.

This is the second sales ban that Samsung has overturned in recent weeks after its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet was also permitted to go back on sale again.

Samsung said that it welcomed the reversal by the Federal Circuit and added that the decision "confirms that the role of patent law is to protect innovation and not to unreasonably stifle competition and restrict consumer choice."

Although the ban has been overturned, the handset is an older model that is not widely sold anyway so the impact is more symbolic than financial. However, the Judge who issued the original ban is the same one who presided over the wider Apple-Samsung legal fight, and Samsung can be expected to use the censure in its appeal over the US$1.05 billion damages awarded last month.

Samsung is currently seeking to have the US$1.05 billion verdict that it infringed Apple patents overturned. A decision on that is expected in December.