Arduino is the clever concept of
- forking an open source/open hardware project
- creating a brand name for hardware devices built after that definition
- having financial success in selling these devices
- keeping on selling the branded stuff with an astronomical margins (compared to production cost)
There are no genuine Arduinos, the whole concept is pure marketing (which must be paid for, which raises the cost, ...)
Bill Gates at least paid a little for the system he created DOS from.