SAN FRANCISCO - Sales of Galaxy S3, the latest flagship smartphone from Samsung, have been helped rather than hurt by the South Korean company's patent lawsuit with US technology giant Apple, a new report said on Tuesday.

Models pose with Samsung Electronics' new Galaxy Note 2 in Seoul September 26, 2012. Samsung on Wednesday released the new smartphone-tablet computer hybrid, which is equipped with a 5.5-inch (13.97 cm) screen with a resolution of 1,280 x 720 and a 1.6 gigahertz quad-core application processor.[Photo/Agencies]

The Galaxy S3 has enjoyed average growth of 9 percent each week since August 1, when the US District Court in Northern District of California started a high-profile jury trial on the patent infringement dispute between Apple and Samsung, according to the report by market research firm Localytics.

Study by Localytics showed a huge spike of Galaxy S3 sales between August 21 and August 27, the week when the US federal court jury ruled in favor of Apple.

The jury verdict announced on August 24 found that Samsung infringed six of Apple's patents and ordered the South Korean company to pay more than 1 billion US dollars in damages to the iPhone maker.

The sales spike suggested that Samsung actually benefit from the news of the lawsuit verdict, Daniel Ruby, director of online marketing at Localytics, noted in a blog post.

"The deluge of post-litigation press coverage both drove general attention to Samsung and suggested that Samsung devices are similar enough to iPhones to be an option for many consumers," he said.

Localytics found in its study that Galaxy S3 sales also spiked in the week of September 12, when Apple unveiled its new generation of iPhone 5 smartphone.

Ruby pointed out that Apple's announcement was quickly followed by hundreds of stories comparing the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3, "most of which again suggested they were similarly capable."

The new findings from Localytics came a day after Samsung scored a courtroom victory and launched fresh attack in the patent war against Apple.

US District Judge Lucy Koh on Monday issued an order dissolving a three-month-old ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in the United States.

Late Monday, Samsung also added infringement claims about the iPhone 5 to an existing lawsuit against Apple at the US District Court in Northern District of California, alleging that in addition to other Apple products, the iPhone 5 infringed the same eight Samsung patents.