A U.S. federal court has sent back the long-running patent dispute between Samsung Electronics and Apple to a lower court.

IT-focused Web site CNET and other media reported that the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that a lower court will decide whether to hold another damages retrial or what other recourse to take.

With the ruling, Samsung and Apple will take their legal battle back to a district court in San Jose, California, where they originally started to fight over how much Samsung has to pay Apple in damages.

Apple filed a suit against Samsung with the district court in April 2011, claiming Samsung infringed its design patents.