A judge rejected Apple's request for a permanent sales ban in the United States against older Samsung smartphones on March 6, which is a major setback for the company in its global patent dispute with the Galaxy maker.

In San Jose, California, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Apple failed to present enough evidence that its patented features were "a significant enough driver of consumer demand" to warrant a ban, according to Reuters.

The two companies have been going at one another for almost three years over a number of smartphone features patented by the iPhone maker. Features include the use of fingers to pinch and zoom on the screen, along with design elements like the phone's flat, black glass screen.

Apple was awarded more than $900 million by U.S. juries, but it wasn't able to get a permanent sales ban against Samsung.

The Galaxy maker earned $7.7 billion last quarter alone, according to Reuters.

The ruling comes just before another patent trial set to begin later on this month. The next dispute involves newer Samsung phones.

"We agree with its observation that a few software features alone don't drive consumer demand for Samsung products, rather consumers value a multitude of features," Samsung said, according to Reuters.

Apple has declined to comment so far.

Apple has argued in court documents that the ban wasn't so much about the older Samsung phones using the patented technology, but rather future devices that could decrease iPhone sales around the world.

The older devices targeted by Apple are no longer available for sale.

See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?