I've always though that Samsung borrows heavily from Apple but the Galaxy Tab seems like a real stretch. There is enough of a difference between the two products where a customer shouldn't get confused.
I think Apple is getting angry about its partners taking what they've learned from Apple and using it to compete directly against them. From the article:
The injunction comes as the latest blow in a tit-for-tat legal war between the two companies, who have otherwise enjoyed a solid working relationship: Samsung produces many of the components used in both the iPhone and the iPad, the design of which it stands accused of copying.
This is the same type of dynamic that led to the falling out between Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt, when Schmidt, as a board member of Apple, used his inside knowledge of iOS to radically change Android's UI and functionality to compete directly against Apple.
Likewise, this reminds us of Steve Jobs showing Bill Gates the Mac GUI, and then finding out that Gates used that knowledge to revamp the Windows UI to directly compete against the Mac.
Apple has a problem in that it seemingly cannot partner with anyone without those companies then turning around and using their knowledge of Apple's software and design to compete directly against them in the same space.
It is quite the dramatic claim to say Microsoft, Google, or Samsung used insider information to copy Apple when all of the copied products came out well after the Mac, iPhone and iPad were publicly released.
I do agree with you that all of Apple's partners that you have mentioned have continually backstabbed them but I wonder exactly how far Apple can go legally. It seems they could potentially go after anyone with this decision. I'm all for protecting IP but there were tablets before the iPad.
