A federal court in New Jersey has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the widow of car-maker John DeLorean over royalties stemming from the Back to the Future movies.

Sally DeLorean claimed a Texas company using the DeLorean name had illegally accepted royalties from Universal for the promotional use of images of the company's iconic DMC-12 car.

A judge ruled on Friday that a 2015 settlement agreement in a separate lawsuit over trademarks prohibited her from suing for the royalties.

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Lawyers for the two sides did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.

The sleek, angular car with gull-wing doors featured in the movie franchise starring Michael J Fox about a teenager who travels back in time to engineer his parents' first encounter.