Judge throws out part of Apple patent award against Samsung

Apple Inc lost a major ruling in its ongoing patent battle with Samsung Electronics on Friday, as a federal judge threw out part of a jury's $1.05 billion damages award against Samsung over a variety of phone products.

Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court Northern District of California in San Jose struck $450.5 million from the jury's award and ordered a new trial on damages for a number of products at issue.

Apple won a $1.05 billion verdict last year against Samsung in a California court. Apple followed up by seeking a permanent ban on several older Samsung phones, but Koh rejected Apple's request.

The fight between Apple and Samsung has been widely viewed as a proxy war between Apple and Google Inc as the Korean electronics company's flagship Galaxy smartphones and tablets run on Google's Android operating system.

(Reporting By Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Gary Hill)