The patent infringement lawsuit brought against Motorola Mobility by Apple has been thrown out by a federal judge four days before the case was due to go to trial, reports Bloomberg.

Apple had accused Motorola of infringing four patents with its Droid range of smartphones and Xoom tablet. Motorola meanwhile filed a case against Apple concerning a single cellular communications patent.

Judge Richard Posner dismissed the case in Chicago after rejecting the damages claims of both sides in the final hearing before the trial was due to start on 11 June. Posner said in a written order that he had “tentatively decided” to reject the case as neither company could “establish a right to relief”. However, he said “I may change my mind” when he writes a longer decision.

If the Apple-Motorola trial had taken place, it would have been the first patent trial to take place since Google acquired Motorola Mobility for US$12.5 billion in May.

The case is just one of numerous lawsuits being filed across the world as vendors vie for a bigger slice of the smartphone market. Apple has also been engaged in legal battles with Samsung, while Motorola, Microsoft and HTC have all been involved in various patent disputes.