The decision, made on Monday, is part of a series of rulings that US Judge Lucy Koh says she is releasing over a period of several weeks to address the many legal issues raised in the case.
Apple had requested for the ban after a jury ruled in August that some Samsung products had infringed Apple's patents.
A jury found Samsung had copied critical features of the iPhone and iPad.
Samsung was ordered to pay $1.05bn in damages, a ruling the South Korean firm has since challenged.
Apple had urged the judge to permanently ban the US sales of eight Samsung smartphone models, while also seeking to add millions more to the award.
"The phones at issue in this case contain a broad range of features, only a small fraction of which are covered by Apple's patents," Koh wrote in her ruling.
repeated attempts
"Though Apple does have some interest in retaining certain features as exclusive to Apple, it does not follow that entire products must be forever banned from the market because they incorporate, among their myriad features, a few narrow protected functions," wrote Koh.
Earlier this month, Koh appeared ready to trim the $1bn jury verdict Apple won over Samsung Electronics, but gave no indication as to by how much. Adding to the legal tangle, Apple filed a second lawsuit earlier this year, alleging that Samsung's newer products are unfairly using Apple's technology. That case is set for trial in 2014.
In addition, the two companies are locked in legal battles in several other countries.
Apple had also lost an appeal against a UK ruling that Samsung had not infringed its design rights.
Charles Verhoeven, a lawyer for Samsung, has argued that Apple was trying to tie up Samsung in courts around the world rather than competing with it head-on.
Samsung has also claimed that it was deprived of a fair trial in a courthouse located 20 kilometers from Apple's Cupertino, California, headquarters.
(culled from www.aljazeera.com)
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