Apple Inc. lost its appeal Tuesday in a Japan lawsuit claiming that Samsung Electronics Co. infringed on a patent for synchronizing music and video data on its Galaxy smartphones and tablets with servers.

The ruling at the Intellectual Property High Court in Tokyo upheld an earlier decision in favor of Samsung. In August, the Tokyo District Court rejected Cupertino, California-based Apple's claim that Samsung's mobile devices infringe on a synchronization invention.

Samsung and Apple, the world's two biggest smartphone makers, have each scored victories in patent disputes fought on four continents since the maker of the iPhone accused Asia's biggest electronics maker of "slavishly copying" its devices. The companies are competing for dominance of a global mobile-device market, estimated by researcher Yankee Group at $346 billion in 2012.

Last week, the Tokyo District Court upheld Apple's separate claim that Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung infringed on the way an iPad or iPhone screen seems to bounce when a user scrolls to the bottom. The court in February rejected Samsung's request to suspend sales of iPhones and iPads in the nation.

Shipments of tablet computers in Japan more than doubled to 5.68 million units in the year that ended in March, according to Tokyo-based MM Research Institute Ltd. Apple controlled 53 percent of the market, while Samsung ranked fifth with 4.3 percent, the researcher said last month.