Many readers in the U.S. will no doubt have been following the news about Apple trying to ban the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus there. However yesterday a judge refused a request from Samsung to lift a pre-trial injunction that stops them selling the Galaxy Nexus stateside and we have evidence that the ban has come into effect as the Google Play Store has now pulled the Galaxy Nexus from sale.

The bid by Samsung to temporarily lift the ban on the Galaxy Nexus smartphone pending the resolution of an appeal was rejected by US District Judge Lucy Koh, a real victory for Apple as it’s quite rare for pre-trial injunctions to be granted. Previously on Monday Judge Koh also rejected lifting the ban on sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Apple claims that Samsung has copied its iPhone and iPad while Samsung is denying this and has countersued, according to Reuters. Although Samsung still has further chances to get the injunction lifted against the Galaxy Nexus, as the company can also appeal in federal court, it hasn’t taken long for the ban to start taking effect.

News that Google has now stopped sales of the GSM variant of the Galaxy Nexus in its Google Play Store comes to us from GSMArena. Instead of seeing shipping information and the Add to Cart button when trying to order online, the status message now only reads, “Coming Soon.” You can still sign up in the Google Play Store for notifications for when the Galaxy Nexus is back on sale there, if that happens of course.

It’s possible that the Galaxy Nexus hasn’t disappeared from the Google Play Store because of the ban on sales but this is the logical conclusion, although it could be that Google is just out of stock for now. However when considering that Apple has now posted the 96.5 million bond necessary to set the injunction in place, the most plausible explanation of the Galaxy Nexus being MIA in the Play Store is the injunction. You may also be interested in our previous post which discussed a possible software patch for the Galaxy Nexus that could mean Google and Samsung can get around the U.S. ban.

What we should also consider is what will happen to the orders that people have already placed for the Galaxy Nexus through Google Play and are awaiting delivery of? There’s no news yet on the answer to that question but it would be difficult to imagine that the phones would have to be retrieved from the delivery process. Interesting stuff then and it will be interesting to see whether the Galaxy Nexus makes it back into stock at the Google Play Store. If you have already ordered one though the Play Store let us know if you still manage to get it delivered or maybe receive communication saying your order has been canceled? Send us your comments on the Galaxy Nexus US ban.