Apple Inc was on Wednesday grilled by a US Federal Judge for the company’s bid for a sanction against Google Inc's Motorola Mobility unit, a news agency has reported.

A per the agency report, Judge Richard Posner called the US patent system "chaos" and said an order barring the sale of Motorola phones could have "catastrophic effects."

Earlier this month the Judge cancelled an impending trial between Apple and Google, and had stipulated it for Wednesday hearing so that Apple could argue for the injunction.

Motorola sued Apple in October 2010, a move widely seen as a pre-emptive strike. Apple filed its own lawsuit against Motorola the same month. Apple is also slated for trial against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd next month in California.