Samsung Electronics Co. will withdraw patent lawsuits seeking to block sales of Apple Inc. products as part of litigation over the use of its technology in European countries, the company said today.

"Samsung has decided to withdraw our injunction requests against Apple on the basis of our standard essential patents pending in European courts, in the interest of protecting consumer choice," the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in an e-mailed statement today. The decision on European lawsuits comes hours after a U.S. court ruled it wouldn't ban sales of 26 Samsung products in a patent lawsuit.

Samsung and Apple, the world's two biggest smartphone makers, have traded victories in their patent disputes fought over four continents since the Cupertino, California-based company last year accused Asia's biggest electronics maker of "slavishly copying" its devices. The companies, competing for dominance of the global smartphone market estimated by Bloomberg Industries at $219 billion last year, are fighting patent battles even as Apple remains Samsung's biggest customer.