If they rewrote the movie Mean Girls for tech, you can bet that Apple would be the three mean girls and Samsung would be Lindsay Lohan's character. This week, Samsung scored a rare victory against Apple in court, and may have saved Christmas for its Galaxy device in Australia with a little last minute holiday magic. 

However, the victory is not yet official. Read on to find out what Apple might do to keep its Grinch on Down Under. Also, be sure check out the amazing infographic after the cut that lays out how all this Samsung vs. Apple cat-fight started in the first place. Cue the "dun dun."

Apple vs. Samsung 

Reuters reports that Samsung, emboldened by a new ruling from Australian federal court, is prepared to resume selling its Galaxy device Down Under as early as Friday. The unanimous decision overturned a previous ruling by the court this past October that granted an injunction to Apple barring Australian sales of the Galaxy 10.1 tab.

Lifting the injunction will allow Samsung to get the Galaxy on Australian store shelves just in time for the holiday shopping season. With Amazon’s Kindle Fire emerging as the first legitimate competitor to Apple’s iPad, Samsung really needs to get the Galaxy in the game. This ruling could be a major win for Samsung; Australia is not a huge market, but as Reuters points out, it is a key launch market for Apple products outside of the United States.

This looks nothing like an iPad. No, wait, it totally looks like an iPad. Happy Holidays.

This Samsung victory is not certain yet, however. 

"It's hard to expect the ruling to have a major positive impact on Samsung's tablet business or legal cases in other countries as Apple could appeal," said Song Myung-sub, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities in Seoul. Regarding the possibility of the Galaxy landing on Australian shelves in time for the holidays, Myung-sub said, "Sales won't be restored anytime soon." 

How likely is an appeal? Well, Australian Justice Lindsay Foster granted a stay to Apple, effectively holding all orders until midnight this Friday, which gives Apple a window to file before Samsung can begin selling. To keep the injunction in place, Apple must file an emergency appeal against the decision in the Canberra-based High Court, Australia’s highest legal body.

The High Court would have to decide before the end of business on December 2 to grant Apple’s request to extend the injunction beyond that date. If the court grants the request, Apple will have 28 days from today to file a request to appeal the ruling. During that time period, however, the Galaxy would remain banned from Australian shelves and Samsung would miss the holiday shopping season.

Following this recent ruling, Cupertino stated in an email, "This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we’ve said many times before, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."

We're pretty sure we know what that means and which direction Apple's legal team is going to go.

Image via Bloomberg

Apple vs. Samsung: The Patent Wars, Explained (with Handy Infographic!)

Mashable found this great graphic produced by Online MBA Guide detailing the legal battles between Apple and Samsung, how they started, and where they are today.

Click to open in new window.