Apple has filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara California Superior Court against an unidentified individual who has "recently misappropriated and disseminated confidential information". The move comes in advance of the forthcoming MacWorld conference in San Francisco, at which Apple aficionados speculate the company will unveil a new flavour of iPod.

Apple admits that it does not know the defendants "true names or capacities, whether individual, associate, corporate or otherwise", but is clearly hoping that this bit of sabre-rattling will deter people from lifting the lid on new kit in advance of official launches.

The move follows the 2002 application of the big stick against Jose Lopez, a contractor who allegedly swiped schematic drawings, images and engineering details of the PowerMac G4 and posted them on the web.

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