Apple succeeded in getting the iPad’s most successful competitor to date banned from the European Union (except for the Netherlands) when a German court granted a preliminary injunction against the distribution of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet a couple of days ago. It argued that the Samsung looked too much like the iPad, as pictured and described in Apple’s Community Design 000181607-0001document for the EU. Shockingly, the judge agreed.

The problem with this decision is that the device pictured in the application looks like nothing more or less than generic tablet computer. If you saw the images by themselves, outside of the context of the 000181607-0001, you certainly wouldn’t think iPad exclusively. You’d think tablet.

What’s next? Maybe the EU will ban every other tablet (Android, Windows, webOS, BlackBerry, Linux, etc.) that exists or ever will exist because they’re fairly thin, compact and rectangular like the iPad. That would certainly simplify the life of IT professionals as they take charge of workplace tablet support. Or perhaps, this silly ruling will quickly be overturned so the free market will be allowed to do its job. That is, until the next ruling in the ever-more litigious world of smartphones and tablets.

Apple hasn’t done so badly with the iPad. Thanks to it, the iPhone and its retail stores, Apple is now the most valuable company in the world, having just overtaken Exxon.  As it did with the iPhone and smartphones, Apple with the iPad took what had been a fairly static and niche product category, tablets, and turned it into a massive success, defying the conventional wisdom of the time.

As a category, tablets are doing amazingly well thanks mostly to the iPad. According to new research by ABI, tablet shipments will exceed 120 million in 2015, as the computing category emerges from the shadow of traditional PCs and smartphones.

Today, while the iPad still dominates, Android models have collectively taken 20% of the market away from Apple over the past year, ABI said. No wonder Steve Jobs and company are starting to look over their shoulders; although, no single vendor among Android vendors, even Samsung, which has done the best, has come close to matching the success of the iPad or its price point.

“Many vendors have introduced media tablets, but none are separating themselves from the pack to pose a serious threat to Apple,” noted ABI Research mobile devices group director Jeff Orr. “In fact, most have introduced products at prices higher than similarly-configured iPads. Apple, never a company to be waiting for others, has introduced its second-generation iPad media tablet while keeping product pricing unchanged.”