Apple has won a preliminary sales injunction against Samsung in Australia to block the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from hitting the stores.

This will leave the Korean company with no choice but to either face a 2012 trial or scrap the tablet altogether. The federal court judge decided in favor of Apple’s claims that Samsung infringed on two of its patents.

In August, Apple filed an injunction against Samsung in Australia, claiming that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 violated 10 of its patents. Samsung tried to prove that the Australian version of the device would be different from the U.S. one, but the judge once again favored Apple, and now the case will go to trial.

This is part of a wider patent battle between the two companies that has come up in courts on four continents.

Earlier Samsung had agreed to the withdrawal of two features from the Galaxy 10.1 which purportedly violated Apple's patents. As a result of this agreement, their dispute in Australia has been cut down to one patent over touchscreen display technology.

Apple and Samsung are quickly becoming top rivals in the smartphone business. The increasing demand and prospects of the Samsung devices have led Apple to resort to suing Samsung and seeking to stop sales worldwide. Samsung has responded by seeking a ban on the sales of Apple's iPhone 4S, charging that the iPhones and the iPad 2 are violating the multiple wireless technology patents it holds.

Iphone Smartphone Ipad Court