[citation][nom]rosen380[/nom]Taxes are a different animal. The US gov't "needs" $3T per year, which is ~$15k per working person. Probably half the people couldn't pay $15k per year and still survive, so they pay between less and nothing. The 'haves' cover their bit.But, we're not talking about funding a government. We are talking about one company or individual selling a good or service to another company or individual. When you walk into Best Buy, they don't ask for your W2 and then set prices accordingly.I'm not saying I think that making a fake company and saying the name was for them isn't a deceptive practice -- but in an environment where a company with a name worth $20k is going to sell it to you for 1000x as much based on your income, well there are some deceptive thigns you have to do then.[/citation]
To be fair, Apple's fake company said that they wanted the name simply because it was an acronym for the fake company's name and claimed that they wouldn't use it for competing products in the markets.
[citation][nom]rosen380[/nom]As I understand it, they really did create that company called, "IP Application Development Limited". And if that is the case, then their statement that "IPAD is an abbreviation for the company name..." is 100% factual.And likewise, "This is a newly formed company, and I'm sure you can understand that we are not ready to publicize what the company's business is, since we have not yet made any public announcements." also would then be a true statement.And further, "As I said in my last message, I can assure you that the company will not compete with Proview."... well still true. IP Application Development Limited, with no products is not competing with Proview in any way.So, with the information presented, I'm sticking with deceptive but not a lie and [probably] not illegal. And again, if for Apple [or presumably any large company], the price is $20M, but for new, small company, the price is $20k, then when it is my company, I am going with deceptive, just like you would if Walmart was trying to charge, you in particular, $500 for a $0.50 pack of gum...[/citation]
Instead of using it to compete directly, the fake company created by Apple then gave it to Apple, who is using it for competition. The whole process that Apple went through was to coax Proview into selling the ipad name short instead of a fair price.
Also, the name obviously isn't worth only 20$ or $50 if Apple's iPads are raking in tens/hundreds of millions of dollars for Apple.