...unias at very close to the cost of growing them and bringing them to market. Consumer desires are satisfied and productive resources are allocated effic... ... sound so good. Patents, by contrast, keep the knowledge public, at least in theory; 3 you must describe it to own it.) And again, decisions about the... ...o the economists, the answer is that trademark law does two things. It saves consumers time. We have good reason to believe that a soap that says “Ivo... ...at quality and commercial information flow regulate themselves, with rational consumers judging among goods of consistent quality produced by manufac- ... ...xclude others from one’s trade name, symbol, or slogan produces a market for consumer information in which firms have incentives to establish quality b... ...formation in which firms have incentives to establish quality brand names and consumers can rely on the meaning and the stability of the logos that sur... ... could turn to the cutting edge of technology or to economics or information theory. But none of those would be as useful a starting place as a letter... ... one of the supporters of copyright extension declared that it was merely “a theory” that monopoly makes things expensive. Macaulay agrees, tongue in ... ... monopoly makes things expensive. Macaulay agrees, tongue in cheek. “It is a theory in Chapter 2 22 -1 ___ 0 ___ 1 ___ 37278_u01.qxd 8/28/08 11:04 A...