Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S4 (L) and Apple's iPhone 5 are seen in this file picture illustration taken in Seoul. REUTERS / Kim Hong-Ji

A U.S. District Court Judge in California on Tuesday has ruled that Korea's Samsung did infringe Apple Inc's autocorrect patent technology, two months before the telecoms giants face each other for a late March trial date.

Judge Lucy Koh's ruling effectively threw out Samsung's argument that claimed the patent only applied to devices with physical keyboards.

"Because Samsung does not otherwise dispute Apple's satisfactory showing of infringement as to that claim, the Court grants Apple's motion for summary judgment that the '172 Accused Products infringe claim 18 of the '172 Patent," Ms Koh said.

Ms Koh has presided over most of the legal battles between the two companies in the U.S.

The ruling effectively enables Apple to seek a ban against the sales of Samsung devices, include the Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy S2.

As expected, Samsung won't take the matter just plain sitting down.

"We are disappointed by the court's decision, and look forward to the jury trial (in March), when the jury is expected to consider the claims related to the remaining summary judgment requests that were denied," the WSJ quoted an unidentified Samsung spokesman as saying. "We remain confident that our products do not infringe Apple's intellectual property, and we will continue to take all appropriate measures to protect our intellectual property rights."

But in a court filing outlined by Reuters earlier, the top leaders of Apple and Samsung, Tim Cook and Oh-Hyun Kwon, respectively, have agreed to meet and settle matters in a mediation session on or before Feb 19.

Apple has won and been awarded $930 million since its legal battle versus Samsung began in 2011.

Apple and Samsung each has over five patent claims. Samsung is now down to four patent claims, following this ruling. Apple still has five.