Galaxy Nexus Vs. Windows Phone: Android 'Smoked' Competiton, Microsoft Disagrees [VIDEO]
Microsoft's friendly fan-based competition, known as the "Smoked by Windows" challenge, got a little more competitive over the weekend. Samsung

The ongoing patent war between Apple and Samsung has taken a new turn with the California-based company seeking a ban on the sales of the Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the U.S.

According to Foss Patents, Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction against the official Ice Cream Sandwich Android OS device which the South Korean electronics giant has developed in collaboration with Google.

The filing, which was made before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claimed that the Nexus has violated four Apple patents - a new slide-to-unlock patent, a word completion patent, a data tapping patent and a patent relating to Siri and unified search. Apart from the data tapping patent, three of the rest were granted quite recently, Foss Patents noted.

The preliminary injunction motion is part of a new federal lawsuit.

The unified search patent is based on Apple's Siri way of searching the Internet and can have an impact on Google which has a similar voice technology. The slide to unlock patent is already involved in a legal dispute with Galaxy Nexus in Germany.

According to Foss Patents, Apple stands a good chance to win its case over data tapping. But the rest of the claims may drag on.

Apple suffered a setback earlier this month in Germany where a court denied the company's plea to ban Galaxy Nexus.

Smartphone Court Germany California