Apple has begun a legal challenge claiming that a website is encouraging the theft of company secrets.

The company filed its suit in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County alleging that thinksecret.com and unnamed individuals had been publishing its proprietary information.

In the past few weeks the site has carried stories about a new sub-$500 Mac and an office applications suite called iWorks.

Apple declined to comment when approached about the story.

Thinksecret.com was set up in 1998 and concentrates solely on Apple products and news. There was confusion on the site's message board following news of the suit, with one poster claiming that it was a publicity stunt.

This is the third time Apple has launched legal action over intellectual property in as many weeks.

The company is suing unnamed individuals whom it believes leaked details of its new media player, codenamed Asteroid, as well as two men whom it claims leaked a forthcoming Mac operating system upgrade.