Steve Jobs doesn’t have to go to China to find cheap knockoffs of the Apple Store — there are plenty of iPhoneys just a few subway stops away from his flagship Fifth Avenue outpost.
showing zero tolerance for infringement of its good name, the tech giant is going after “Apple story,” a tiny shop in a Flushing, Queens, mall that mostly sells iPad and iPhone accessories.
unlike Apple Store knockoffs recently spotted in China, Apple story lacks the grandeur and inventory of the original, not to mention the army of obsequious employees.
Located just past a foot-massage concession, Apple Story’s 400 square feet of retail space lacks a Genius Bar and long displays offering visitors a chance to try the latest models, but Jobs is no less Apple-plectic.
a federal intellectual-property lawsuit filed under seal on July 25 targets Apple story owner Janice Po Chiang and a slew of other unnamed alleged infringers.
Chiang, her lawyer and Apple did not return calls for comment.
Customer Bonni Chayet, 51, admits she was nearly duped.
“Going up the escalator, I thought it was an Apple Store,” she said, until she saw iPhone cases selling for as little as $5. “A lot of the items are chintzy — and that’s not Apple.”
Intellectual-property experts say it’s in Apple’s interest to take even seemingly minor infringements seriously.
“Whenever you own a brand, it’s your job to police the marketplace so its value is not whittled away,” said Darren Geliebter, an attorney at Lombard & Geliebter.