What the Court said was that the appeals court's ruling amounted to a "new rule of Federal constitutional law."

A spokesman for the the British Police Federation said today's ruling "amounts to a vindication of police actions."

Patent litigation blogger Florian Mueller said that Samsung's distribution model meant the ruling effectively amounts to a de facto European-wide ban.

The decision overturned rulings that said requiring a convicted drug dealer to give up property amounted to punishing someone twice for the same crime.

The Supreme Court's ruling, six judges to one, amounted to the most damning indictment any Pakistani court has offered of a civilian Government.

Morales said the ruling amounted to discrimination: "This is not only a ban on Bolivia, but it is also a ban on the universality of sports."

He said the day's rulings amounted to the judge's "accepting 95 percent of our argument."

"There has been a general sense among judges and lawyers that the judicial conference's ruling amounted to a ban - period," Mr. Abrams said.

Slade Metcalf, a lawyer representing HarperCollins, said the judge's ruling amounted to "unconstitutional prior restraint" of editorial information.