PT116.S1.P4.Q26

PrepTest 116 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 26

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P1

Faculty researchers, particularly in scientific, engineering, and medical programs, often produce scientific discoveries and invent products or processes that have potential commercial value. ████ ████████████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████████ ██████████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ █████ ████████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ██ █████████ █████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████ █████████ █████ ███████████ ██████ ██████████ ██████████ █████████████ ███

Context · Faculty researchers produce discoveries with commercial value
Universities can profit by licensing those discoveries
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Problem · Financially tempting for faculty to leave university and work for startup
If universities don't incentivize their faculty correctly, that is.
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Solution · Reconsider universities IP policies to give faculty the right level of flexibility to profit from their inventions
So, is the issue that the universities are hoarding all the profit upside? I suppose if I made a huge biotech discovery, I wouldn't be too happy if my university didn't share the profit with me.
P2

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Classification of IP Policies · 4 types
This is based on Patricia Chew's scholarship.
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Type 1 · Supramaximalist
Everything belongs to the university. Even discoveries made while not at work.
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Type 2 · Maximalist
Everything belongs to the university, except inventions unconnected to their employment.
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Type 3 · Significant use
If "significant use" of university time and facilities involved, then university owns IP.
P3

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Commentary · University ownership is the rule, faculty ownership is the exception
Chew and others note that this is actually contrary to what common law assumes, which is that as a rule faculty own IP. Author claims most universities are taking advantage of their faculty when maximizing ownership and profit rights.
P4

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Type 4 (Solution) · Faculty-oriented
Faculty ownership is the rule, university ownership is the exception.
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
Show answer
26.

According to the passage, what █████████████ █ █████████████████ ███████████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ ███

a

vagueness on the █████ ██ ████ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████████ █████████

Misdirection. Resource-provider institutions are vague about what constitutes significant use of university resources, not about what constitutes university resources at all.

21%
b

insistence on reaping ███████████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██████████ █████ █████ █████████ ███████ ████ █████████ ███████████

Unstated. None of the institutions offer unlimited flexibility for faculty. All have at least some conditions under which the university controls ownership of IP.

5%
c

inversion of the █████ █████████ █████████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ███████ ███████████

This describes faculty-oriented institutions, not resource-provider ones. (While the usual practice is to maximize the university’s ownership of faculty inventions, faculty-oriented institutions invert that practice by generally assuming that faculty own their own inventions.)

9%
d

insistence on ownership ██ ███████ ██████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████

This describes supramaximalist institutions, not resource-provider ones. (Supramaximalist institutions claim ownership of all faculty inventions, including thoose developed outside of the university.)

7%
e

reliance on the ██████ ██ ███ ██ █████████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████████

Stated at the end of P2. Resource-provider institutions decide who owns an invention (the university or the faculty) based on whether the faculty member has made “significant use” of university resources.

59%

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