Just when it seemed Samsung was making headway in their legal battle with Apple over the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Apple managed to strike back at its rival. We reported on Wednesday that a federal judge in Australia had lifted the injunction on the sale of the device. Just as Samsung was bringing shipments of the device, which they planned to put on sale today, into the country, Apple filed an appeal to Australia’s supreme court. The high court agreed to extend the injunction on the tablet’s sale for another week – until December 9th – to give Apple time to have its appeal heard.

This is just the latest in a lengthy battle between the two companies over the Galaxy Tab 10.1. In July 2010, Steve Jobs contacted Samsung over his concerns that their Galaxy phones bore too much of a resemblance to Apple’s iPhone. With the unveiling of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, though, Apple felt it had sufficient grounds for legal action. Before the tablet’s planned release in April, Apple filed suit in ten countries – including Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands – to block sales of the device. Courts in several countries have sided with Apple, agreeing that the Galaxy Tab mimics the look and feel of the iPad closely enough to constitute patent infringement. The Australian courts had continued the trend of siding with Apple until Wedneday’s ruling, which overturned the injunction and criticized the lower court’s decision.

With the injunction re-instituted for another week, it remains to be seen whether Samsung will be able to get the Galaxy Tab into the Australian market in time for the holidays. Katrina Howard, attorney for Samsung, told reporters that if Samsung cannot get the Galaxy Tab into Australian stores by then, they may scrap plans to bring the device to that country altogether.