monopoly, monopole

[Lat. monopo lium; from Gr. mono pol i on = the right of monop oly; monopolia = monopoly: monos = single, and põleō to sell, to traffic; Fr. monopole.] IMG:content-1369.png:[blocks in formation] otherwise deal in any commodity or number of commodities. Thus, a patent for an invention gives the patentee the exclusive right of making or dealing in the article patented. "He thinks he can never trade to his advantage, unle he can have the monopoly of every thing he values."South: Sermons, vol. v., ser. 10. 2. That which is the subject of a monopoly; as, Opium is a government monopoly in India; the Standard Oil Company have a monopoly . 3. The a uming or claiming right to or po e ion of anything to the exclusion of others; as, He claims a monopoly of the conversation. II. Law : The only monopolies that the laws of the United States and the individual states look upon with favor consist of the Post Office, which is a government monopoly, and the rights granted to individuals under the Patent and Copyright laws; a patent covering a period of seventeen years with no renewal except by a special act of Congre , and a copyright twenty-eight years with a renewal of fourteen years if certain conditions are complied with. Monopolies commonly known as Trusts are looked upon with odium, and various states have enacted laws making a Trust an illegal combination of individuals. Some of the early English sovereigns a umed to themselves the right of granting to certain favored subjects the monopoly, or sole right of selling and dealing in particular commodities. This pretended prerogative was carried to a most injurious length in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and led to the pa ing of the Statute of Monopolies, 21 Jac. I., c. 3; which, while declaring the illegality of such grants of exclusive trading in contained an exception in favor of new and griginal inventions in manufacture; and enacted that the declaration against monopolies should not extend to letters-patent and grants of privilege, for the term of fourteen years or under, of the sole working of any manner of new manufactures within the realm, to the true and first inventor thereof, provided such manufactures were not in use by others at the time of granting the letters-patent. Upon this exception, which, to a certain extent, recognizes the royal prerogative, the modern English law of patents for inventions in manufactures may be considered to rest. mon-o-pol-y-logue, s. [Gr. monos alone, single; polys many, and logos a word, a speech.] An entertainment in which a single actor sustains several characters.