Reuters reports that Apple has quickly and quietly moved against a pirate operation in the Queens borough of New York City. Two stores named Apple Story and Fun Zone Inc., both owned by New York resident Janie Po Chiang, have allegedly been selling counterfeit iPad, iPhone, and iPod accessories labeled as genuine Apple products.

Apple claims the accessories were sold in packaging carrying an Apple trademark, marked with the phrase "Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China" and had markings similar to those found on authentic Apple products.

Secret shoppers from Apple went to both stores on "multiple occasions over several weeks," where they purchased a variety of knock off accessories.

Apple filed a sealed trademark infringement suit against both stores on July 25, and then executed several several surprise ex parte seizure warrants on July 27, where representatives swooped in and seized goods from both stores that carried the Apple logo.

The suit is also demanding a complete list of all individuals or entities who either purchased or sold counterfeit products, an order to destroy any remaining counterfeit products, and triple monetary damages. In addition, Apple is asking the court to force the Apple Story store to change its name.

The case remained under seal until Thursday, when the judge ordered the documents to be made public per a request from Reuters. Under the U.S. trademark counterfeiting law, a company can file a trademark infringement secretly so that they don't alert the alleged counterfeiters before the ill gotten goods can be seized.

Via Reuters

Adrian covers daily news as well as the weekly Law & Apple column for MacLife.com. You can follow him on Twitter, if you want to.