By the way, there is some element of truth in the above statement... but Apple did not pay any royalties to McIntosh Laboratory to use the name for their computer. McIntosh relinquished the homophonic TradMarked name for use in computer products in 1982 at the request of Steve Jobs prior to the 1984 introduction of the Mac.
"November 14, 1982: Steve Jobs writes a letter requesting McIntosh Laboratory (www.mcintoshlabs.com) provide Apple a worldwide release for the name Macintosh for use in the computer industry. Jef Raskin's project had been code-named Macintosh since its inception in 1979, but when Apple attempted to trademark the name in 1982, the request was denied because it phonetically infringed on the trademark already owned by the high-end audio equipment manufacturer of Binghamton, New York. In his letter to Gordon Gow, president of McIntosh Labs, Mr. Jobs writes, "We have become very attached to the name Macintosh. Much like one's own child, our product has developed a very definite personality."">
You omitted the part that Mr. Gow refused it.
Here is the story how Macintosh got the name, from the Horse's mouth
Jef Raskin said: "“I intentionally changed the spelling,” insists Raskin. “I’m a pretty good speller. Writing is one of the things I do well. The name of the apple is McIntosh. I thought that would lead us to a conflict with McIntosh Laboratory, the hi-fi manufacturer. So I used the spelling Macintosh, figuring that if it conflicted with the overcoat, who cares?”
This "good speller" twisted the fact that overcoat is spelled Mackintosh, not Macintosh. He is no fool, he only tries to hide the fact that Apple DELIBERATELLY used Macintosh name because McIntosh is household name of with the allure of the highest quality, like Rolls Royce, Rolex or Cartier. At that time many affluent people never heard of Apple Computers and thought that McIntosh Laboratory is making one.
And Apple had to pay for this ploy.
According to the article quoted above, "However, in late March 1983, Apple managed to license the rights to the name and in 1986 purchased the trademark outright. Although the terms of these agreements remain confidential to this day, it has been reported that Apple paid $100,000 in cash for the Macintosh name. According to McIntosh’s legal counsel, that’s “substantially off the mark” and the real payoff was “significantly higher.”
Roger Russell, long time McIntosh executive gives more details on his web site:
"McIntosh entered into a license agreement with the Apple Computer Company. The agreement was for 10 years and allowed Apple Computer to use the Macintosh name in connection with computer production. There was a fee paid by Apple to McIntosh at the beginning of the agreement. Although the spelling was not the same, it sounded the same when it was spoken. The following statement appeared on the label on the back of the Macintosh Plus 1Mb computer.
Apple and the Apple logo are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh is a trademark of McIntosh Laboratory, Inc. and is being used with express permission of its owner".
I am an old Freeper hand and never write things I am not positive about.