Samsung Electronics will not be allowed to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer possibly for the whole duration of the Christmas season, according to a decision issued on Thursday by NSW Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett.

The court ruling, however, did not explicitly prohibited the South Korean electronics giant from offering a different version of the device that Apple claimed was a mere copycat of its million-selling iPad.

"It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging," The Australian quoted Apple's Aussie lawyers as saying on their arguments against the new Galaxy tablet.

The Cupertino, California-based tech titan has been successfully convincing courts in the United States, Europe and Asia that Samsung 'slavishly' copied from iPad, specifically the gadgets' two touch-screen technologies exclusively patented by the American company.

While the two companies are waging their numerous court battles, Samsung has been compelled to delay the launch of its flagship device that many experts regard as a likely strong competition, or even a killer, for the iPad, which already shipped close to 14 million units as of the first six months of 2011.

Bennett has indicated that full details of her ruling will be made known by Friday, a move that the South Korean firm said would obviously play to the advantage of Apple as it will again dominate the traditionally lucrative holiday retail season without a clear rival in the horizon.

Aside from winning the hearts and minds of gadget consumers worldwide, Apple appears headed for lopsided match this coming holiday shopping spree as tech experts noted that most of its competitors withdrew their tablet computer offerings.

Without a clear product to tackle Apple's continued dominance in the mobile industry market, Samsung has been most reduced to fire off counter lawsuits against the U.S. firm that it hoped would disturb Apple's business operations.

In a latest ploy to give Apple some form of worries, Samsung has announced plans to block the sale of iPhone 4S, which Apple unveiled on October 4, in specific European countries, claiming that the American company violated its 3G technology patents.

A Samsung executive has earlier hinted that Apple devices will not legally function without using technologies owned by the South Korean firm. Apart from being competitors, Apple and Samsung are business partners with the former buying billion-dollar worth of components from the latter.