If the goal were to maximize auction revenue and profits then the right approach would be to bundle all our spectrum and sell it to one firm, which would be willing to pay an enormous price to have a monopoly in the lucrative market with no possible threat of competition.

FORBES: Spectrum Auctions: Should Congress Let AT&T, Verizon Bid?

But the challenge has always lain with the first half of Lincoln's phrase--that is, how to stoke that genius through a system that both rewards the inventor with a temporary business monopoly and protects the competition that lies at the heart of the free-market system.

FORBES: The smother of invention

But while SPH holds the monopoly in Singapore's newspaper market, it's finding that AsiaOne faces fierce competition from other portals operating there.

CNN: New Media Paper Chase

Although competition from fixed-odds bookies limits the Tote's market power, the Tote still has a monopoly over some types of bet.

ECONOMIST: The Tote