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9.3: Key Terms

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    181368

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    Example and Directions
    Words (or words that have the same definition) The definition is case sensitive (Optional) Image to display with the definition [Not displayed in Glossary, only in pop-up on pages] (Optional) Caption for Image (Optional) External or Internal Link (Optional) Source for Definition
    (Eg. "Genetic, Hereditary, DNA ...") (Eg. "Relating to genes or heredity") The infamous double helix https://bio.libretexts.org/ CC-BY-SA; Delmar Larsen
    Glossary Entries
    Word(s) Definition Image Caption Link Source
    allocative efficiency producing the optimal quantity of some output; the quantity where the marginal benefit to society of one more unit just equals the marginal cost        
    barriers to entry the legal, technological, or market forces that may discourage or prevent potential competitors from entering a market        
    copyright a form of legal protection to prevent copying, for commercial purposes, original works of authorship, including books and music        
    deregulation removing government controls over setting prices and quantities in certain industries        
    intellectual property the body of law including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secret law that protect the right of inventors to produce and sell their inventions        
    legal monopoly legal prohibitions against competition, such as regulated monopolies and intellectual property protection        
    marginal profit profit of one more unit of output, computed as marginal revenue minus marginal cost        
    monopoly a situation in which one firm produces all of the output in a market        
    natural monopoly economic conditions in the industry, for example, economies of scale or control of a critical resource, that limit effective competition        
    patent a government rule that gives the inventor the exclusive legal right to make, use, or sell the invention for a limited time        
    predatory pricing when an existing firm uses sharp but temporary price cuts to discourage new competition        
    trade secrets methods of production kept secret by the producing firm        
    trademark an identifying symbol or name for a particular good and can only be used by the firm that registered that trademark        

    This page titled 9.3: Key Terms was last modified on Sun, 21 Sep 2025 19:56:34 GMT and is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by OpenStax via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.