SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge has rejected Apple’s attempt to block the sale of several older Samsung smartphones that copied features in the iPhone.

Wednesday’s rebuff comes nearly four months after a jury awarded Apple Inc. $119 million in damages for Samsung’s infringements on technology used in the trend-setting iPhone. The amount was well below the $2.2 billion in damages that Apple had been seeking in the latest round of legal wrangling between the world’s two leading smartphone makers since the tussle began four years ago.

Apple wanted U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, to issue an order that would have prevented future U.S. sales of nine Samsung phone models that infringed on the iPhone technology.

Koh refused, saying Apple hadn’t adequately proven Samsung’s intellectual theft had hurt its sales or diminished its reputation for innovation. She noted that Apple had previously licensed some of the features that Samsung infringed upon to the makers of other smartphones that competed against the iPhone, too.

Apple, which is based in Cupertino, California, declined to comment on Koh’s decision.

Samsung welcomed the ruling in a statement. “We remain committed to providing American consumers with a wide choice of innovative products,” Samsung said.

In its arguments, the South Korean electronics maker had argued the damages awarded to Apple amounted to a royalty payment for its past and future infringements on the patents at issue.

The patents covered the auto-correction feature in the iPhone’s keyboard, the method to create links for email addresses and phone numbers appearing in text and the swiping gesture for unlocking the screen.