Legal monopoly

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A legal monopoly, statutory monopoly, or de jure monopoly is a monopoly that is protected by law from competition. A statutory monopoly may take the form of a government monopoly where the state owns the particular means of production or government-granted monopoly where a private interest is protected from competition such as being granted exclusive rights to offer a particular service in a specific region while agreeing to have their policies and prices regulated. [1] This type of monopoly is usually contrasted with de facto monopoly which is a broad category for monopolies that are not created by government.

Example: McDonalds has a statutory monopoly on the Big Mac. There is competition, however, with other burgers such as the Whopper at Burger King, so there is not a monopoly in hamburgers in general.

See government-granted monopoly.