Samsung has today lost its High Court battle against Apple in the United Kingdom after a judge deemed that the patents the Korean company was using in its case should have never been granted.

Apple has now fended off 24 patent-infringement claims from Samsung, and Samsung’s bid to secure a 2.4% royalty on every 3G-equipped device the Cupertino company sells is looking increasingly unlikely.

A U.K. judge has ruled in favor of HTC over claims that the Taiwanese smartphone vendor infringes four of Apple’s patents for touchscreen technology, including its famous slide-to-unlock feature. Judge Christopher Floyd decided that HTC’s smartphones are not guilty of infringement, and that three of Apple’s four patents are invalid.