A U.S. District Court has handed Apple a victory against one of its biggest competitors in the smartphone market by blocking U.S. sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh granted Apple a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus phone, which went on sale in the United States in mid-December.

This is the second Samsung Galaxy product blocked by Koh this week: On Tuesday, she granted Apple a preliminary injunction against U.S. sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer.

Both devices are powered by Google's Android operating system.

Koh granted the injunction after Apple argued the Galaxy Nexus phone caused it irreparable harm due to long-term market-share loss and "losses of downstream sales," according to The Next Web.

Reuters reporter Dan Levine described the scene in the courtroom after the injunction was granted: The lawyer representing Samsung, John Quinn, had a long face, and Apple's attorney Mike Jacobs was smiling.

"It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging," an Apple spokeswoman said in an email. "This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."

Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google emailed a response regarding the preliminary injunction. "We're disappointed with this decision, but we believe the correct result will be reached as more evidence comes to light," the company said.