removeProperty actually adds it if the property isn't present

[VirtuosiMedia]

So I ran across this interesting problem: if a property doesn't exist,
the removeProperty() function will actually add it. This isn't what
I'm working on, but here's a simple example:

The Javascript:

        window.addEvent('domready', function(){
                        $('name').addEvent('focus', function(){
                                this.removeProperty('maxlength');
                        });
        });

The HTML:

<input id="name" name="name" />

Any ideas on how to get around it? I'm thinking a hasProperty()
function that returns boolean might be a good option.