SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co., the world's No. 2 mobile phone maker, said Wednesday that it will appeal this week a recent German court ruling to ban sales of its tablet computer.

Last week, Samsung failed to overturn a German court's sales injunction on the Galaxy Tab won by Apple Inc., which accused the Korean firm of replicating the iPad's physical design in the 10.1-inch tablet computer.

"We plan to appeal the ruling within this week," a Samsung spokesman Kevin Jeong said by phone, in response to media reports that Samsung filed an appeal in Germany on Tuesday.

The Dusseldorf court's decision to uphold a ban on sales and marketing activities of the Galaxy Tab in Germany was one of the early rulings in the series of legal disputes between the two smartphone giants.

After Apple filed the first lawsuit against Samsung in April, alleging the Galaxy devices of "slavishly copying" the iPhone and the iPad, Samsung launched countersuits. The legal row over mobile designs and patents has since expanded to around 20 countries in North America, Europe and Asia as of September.

Samsung launched the new Galaxy Tab tablet computer in the United States, South Korea and other Asian countries starting in June in a bid to sell 7.5 million tablet PCs this year, five times more than in 2010. The Galaxy Tab, which is powered by Google Inc.'s Android system, has so far been seen as the nearest rival to the iPad, the segment's dominant leader.

Germany-based DPA reported earlier that the appeal could take months to hear and there was "no prospect" of Samsung overturning the ban before the winter holiday season, citing unnamed lawyers. 

The Samsung spokesman said that the company is confident about securing a decision from a higher court in Germany within this year. He declined to comment when the tablet sales could resume in the European country.