Samsung didn’t “slavishly copy” iPad, High Court rules and gives Galaxy Tab 10.1 a go-ahead in Australia

9to5 Staff | Dec 9 2011 - 6:59 am PT

Today is a bad day for Apple’s legal sharks. First Motorola Mobility scores a ruling in Germany which has paved the way for a Europe-wide injunction on sales of Apple’s iOS devices and now High Court in Australia denies Apple’s request to appeal against an earlier decision which overturned the ban on Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales in Australia.

Put simply, the country’s highest-level legal instance has ruled that no, Samsung’s tablet does not “slavishly copy” Apple’s iPad, as the Mac maker argues in court documents. The Federal Court honored Apple’s recent request that its injunction against the Samsung tablet remain in effect until today at 4pm in order to allow Apple time to prepare an appeal.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Tyler McGee, vice-president of telecommunications for Samsung Australia, said customers in Australia will be able to pick up the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet “towards the latter part of next week”. Also…

He said that pre-sales are available today through “certain channels”, adding price points for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia will match Apple’s iPad: $579 for the 16GB WiFi-only version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and $729 for the WiFi+3G model. Apple is also pushing for an injunction on the Galaxy Tab 10.1N in Germany. The 10.1N is a re-engineered version of the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 with an added metal frame around the edges. It’s Samsung’s answer to a Dusseldorf court ruling requiring Samsung to comply with a sales ban. A hearing in that case is scheduled for December 22.

Cross-posted on 9to5Google.com