Toshiba Corp. on Tuesday welcomed a U.S. judge's rejection of a California company's bid to bar it from selling products that use flash memory chips.

Toshiba and California-based Lexar Media Inc. -- a manufacturer of digital camera memory cards and computer flash drives -- have been locked in a legal dispute over claims that Toshiba stole trade secrets involving flash memory chips from the U.S. company.

Flash memory chips are widely used in digital cameras, music players and other devices.

In March, a Santa Clara County jury in California awarded Lexar $381 million for theft of trade secrets, and ordered Toshiba and a subsidiary to pay $84 million in punitive damages for sharing trade secrets with a rival maker of flash memory chips.

Lexar later also asked the court for an injunction barring sales of Toshiba products using Lexar's technology in the United States.

But that request was denied Friday, as Santa Clara County Judge Jack Komar concluded there was "no basis" for such an injunction, Toshiba said in statements released Tuesday in both Tokyo and California.

The Tokyo-based company said it was pleased with the judge's decision, saying it upheld Toshiba's claims.

Toshiba also said it would continue contesting the earlier ruling by the jury.