Self-study
This passage was adapted from an article published in 1991.
P1
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Context ·
Need legal protection against copying software
Copying software programs is easy. Developers would have low financial incentive to innovate if copycatting were legal.
Other People's (OP) Perspective ·
Patent protection for software (on top of copyright) is needed to prevent copycatting
Most think copyright has been effective protection; some also want patent.
P2
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Context ·
Software encodes algorithms
Algorithms are a series of steps for doing stuff. They're encoded in software programs in terms that a computer can understand.
OP's Support ·
OP think encoding algorithms is analogous to designing processes, which are patentable
This is why OP think software should be patentable.
Requirement for patent ·
Designs must be product of invention to be patentable
Examples of things that are not inventions: law of nature, logical axiom, general principles (such as the idea that wind can be used to produce energy).
Critique of OPP ·
Software algorithms should not be patentable
Software algorithms represent principles, which aren't patentable.
P3
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Main Point ·
No good reason to extend patent protection to software
Support ·
For author's main point
Software is just expression of an idea, which falls within domain of copyright. Only need slight changes to copyright law to adequately protect financial incentive of developers.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
23.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Although patent protection ██ ██████ ███ █ ████████ █████████ ██████████ ███████████ ████████ █████████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████████
The author doesn’t believe patent protection is needed for software programs. In fact, he thinks it
b
Legal protection for ████████ ████████ ██████ ████ █████ █████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████ ██ ████████████
This best expresses the main point. Here, some people advocate for extending patent protection to software programs. But the author
c
Without the legal ██████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ████ ██████ █████████ █████████ ██ █████████
The author believes
d
Issuing patents for ████████ ████████ █████ ████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ███████ ███████████ ████ ████████ █████████ █████
Although (D) may be supported by the passage, it’s not the main point. It doesn’t capture the author’s opinion about patent protection, which is that
e
Copyright protects only ███ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ █ ████████ █████████ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ██████████
Although (E) may be supported by the passage, it’s not the main point. It doesn’t capture the author’s opinion about patent protection, which is that it’s not needed to protect software programs.