Self-study
The following passage was adapted from a law journal article published in 1998.
P1
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Intro topic ·
Intellectual property protection for biotech discoveries
Both industries and academia support protection.
Question ·
How much does patenting in biotech hinder basic research?
P2
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Other people's (OP) perspective ·
Patents hinder basic research through enforcement of patent rights or through contractual agreements
This isn't necessarily the author's view, because of the phrase "perceived threat." We're getting other people's perception of the threat.
Potential way patents slow research ·
Patent infringement
Patent holders might sue or threaten to sue researchers who use patented biological materials.
Potential way patents slow research ·
Contractual agreements
Patent holders might charge researchers incredibly high fees or want other benefits in return for allowing use of patented biological materials.
P3
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Historical context ·
Some researchers have always tried to hinder access to biological materials
Critique of OP ·
There's reason to think patents won't be enforced in basic and non-commercial research
Just because someone has a patent doesn't mean they can enforce it.
Support for critique ·
Patent litigation is expensive and judges traditionally grant patent exceptions for noncommercial research
Benefit of patents ·
Spurs research by giving financial incentive to innovate
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
12.
The passage provides the strongest ███████ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Policy makers are ██ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████████ ██ █████████████ ████████
The author doesn’t compare policy makers to academic researchers concerning the likelihood of favoring new restrictions on patents.
b
Most biotechnology patent ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████████████ █████████ █████ ██████ █████████
There’s no evidence of what “most” (over half) biotech patent holders think.
c
Biotechnology researchers who ████ ██ ████████ ████████████ ███ ██████ █████████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███████ ███ █████ █████
There’s no evidence that researchers who work in academic institutions who oppose biotech patents are usually unable to obtain funding for their work. Although some funding is contingent on patentability of research, this doesn’t imply funding would be affected by the researchers’ opinions about patents.
d
Suing for patent ████████████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ███ ██ █████ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ████████ ██████████
e
Rapid commercialization in ███ █████ ██ █████████████ ███ ███ ██ █ ██████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ █████████████
There’s no evidence of a lack of highly educated biologists who are willing to teach in academic institutions.