Samsung scored a victory in the latest round of its legal battle with Apple. A British judge ruled Samsung's Galaxy tablets did not infringe the U.S. company's designs for the iPad because they were "not as cool".

High Court Judge Colin Birss said that Samsung's Galaxy tablets belonged to the same family as the Apple design when viewed from the front, but the Samsung products were "very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back".

"They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool," he said. "The overall impression produced is different."

The latest victory for Samsung comes just a few days after a U.S. appeals court lifted a ban on sales of its Galaxy Nexus smartphones, although it upheld a lower court's decision to temporarily halt sales of its Galaxy 10.1 tablet.

The two companies have been accusing each other of patent infringements as they vie for supremacy in the mobile device market.

"Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited," Samsung said in a statement.

Apple did not comment on Monday's judgment.