By Frank Michael Russell

A lawyer representing Cupertino iPhone, iPod and "I'm a Mac" computer maker Apple is demanding that Valleywag, Gawker Media's tech gossip site, retract its offer to pay as much as $100,000 for proof that the company's rumored tablet or "iSlate" computing device actually exists.

"You and your company have crossed the line by offering a bounty for the theft of Apple's trade secrets," Michael Spillner, a lawyer for Menlo Park-based Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, wrote in a letter to Gawker Editor-In-Chief Gabriel Snyder citing California's trade-secret law. According to Bloomberg News, Apple confirmed the letter was sent on its behalf.

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