Do Patents Give the Right to Create Monopolies?

While an issued patent does give the “right to exclude”, it also does not give a patentee the right to a "monopoly," or "exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices." It is possible to obtain an issued patent even when a real market does not exist for the claimed invention. And, if there is no market, there can never be a monopoly. For more information on what rights a patent does give and what the limits of a patent are, see our related articles.

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