PrepTest 116 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 23

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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.

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.

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Classification of IP Policies · 4 types

This is based on Patricia Chew's scholarship.

Type 1 · Supramaximalist

Everything belongs to the university. Even discoveries made while not at work.

Type 2 · Maximalist

Everything belongs to the university, except inventions unconnected to their employment.

Type 3 · Significant use

If "significant use" of university time and facilities involved, then university owns IP.

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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.

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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

23.

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████████ ███ ████████ ████ █████████ ███ █████████████ ████████████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ █████████████

Question Type

Author’s attitude

Implied

The author says what he thinks of “most universities” in P4: they “behave in ways that maximize university ownership and profit participation.” He’s referring to their behavior around IP policy, specifically. So we can infer that he thinks these universities’ policies are first and foremost meant to financially benefit the universities themselves.

The policies are ██ ███████ ████ ███ █████████████ █████████ ██████████

This follows from what the author states about “most universities”: they “behave in ways that maximize university ownership and profit participation.” The author’s referring to universities’ behavior around IP policy, specifically. So we can infer that he thinks these universities’ policies are first and foremost meant to financially benefit the universities themselves.

70%

The policies are ████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ ███████████

The author doesn’t discuss what a university’s mission is in the first place, so we can’t say whether he thinks their policies are antithetical (i.e., contrary) to that mission.

The policies do ███ ████ █ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████████

Unsupported. The author doesn’t take a stance on how the policies affect the research itself. He only considers how the policies affect faculty and their ability to control their own IP.

The policies are ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ████████ █████████

Three problems. First, these policies only affect faculty pursuing research that can be commercialized, not all faculty who pursue research projects. (We have no reason to think that all research can be commercialized.) Second, “invariably” is too strong—the author indicates that under these policies, there’s a temptation for the affected faculty to jump ship, but he doesn’t go so far as to suggest that this true at all times for all potentially affected faculty. And third, just because faculty might be tempted to leave a university, that doesn’t tell us anything about the faculty’s motivation. (It’s possible to be highly motivated in your research while considering moving to another employer to continue that research.)

19%

The policies are ███████ ███ ████████ ████████

Unsupported. The author doesn’t bring morality into the picture. He keeps the discussion focused on universities’ policies and how they affect faculty, without suggesting what’s moral or immoral. Also, the author holds back from taking any position on legality; he notes that the legal issues surrounding these policies “remain unsettled.”

PrepTest 116 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 23

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