PT139.S3.P3.Q16

PrepTest 139 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 16

Hide analysis

Passage A is from a 2007 article on the United States patent system; passage B is from a corporate statement.

███████ █

P1

██████████████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███ █ █████████ ██████ █████████ █████ ████████ ██████ █ █████ ████████ ████ ████ █ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████████ ███████ ████ ███████ █████ █████████████

P2

██ ██ █████ ██████ ███████ █████ ██ ██████ ██████ ████ █████████ █████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███

Critique · Of patent system
In theory, it should only be the "nonobvious" inventions that get patens.
██████████████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████████ ███████ ███ ███ ███ ████████████ ██ █ ███████ ████ ███████ █████ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ ██ ███████████ ███████████

Example · Patent upheld for "obvious" translation between Internet address and telephone number
P3

█████ ██████████ █████████ ████ █████████ ██ ████ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████████████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ █ ███████ ███ ███████ █ ████████ █████████ ███████ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████████ ██ ███ ████ █ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ████████ █ ███████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █ ███████ █ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ███████████ ███████ █████████

Critique · Patents too broad
In theory, patents should be narrow enough so others can "invent around" existing patents. But recently, patents are so broad that that's getting difficult.
P4

████████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ████████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██████ █████ ██████████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███████ █ ████████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ████████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ██ █████ █████████████ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ █ █████ ████████ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ████ █ ████████ █████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ██ ███

Negative Consequence · Large tech companies stockpile patents
This way, if they get sued for patent violations, they can countersue. If you're not a part of this "arms race" then you are defenseless against law suits.

███████ █

P5

████████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ████████████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ███ ███ ████████████ ████ ████████████████ █████████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████████████ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ ██████ █████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████████

P6

██ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ ███ ███ ████ █████ █████████ ███████ ████████ ████████ █ █████ ██████ ██ ████ █████ █████████ ████ ███████ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██████ ██ ████ ████████ ███████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ███████████

P7

███ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ███████ █ █████████████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████ ████ ████████ ███████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ██ ██ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ █████████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ████ █████████

One Company's Perspective · Patents impede innovation; open-source is better
Whereas Passage A describes the problem with patents in software from a high level, Passage B takes the perspective of one software company affected by this problem and how they are responding to it.
Passage Style
Show answer
16.

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

a

the amassing of ███████ ██ ████████ █████████

Both passages mention this. Passage A describes large technology companies obtaining "hundreds or even thousands of patents." Passage B says "a small number of very large companies have amassed large numbers of software patents." Both passages cover patent stockpiling.

2%
b

the cost of ███████ ███ ███ ███████ █ ███████ ███ ████████

Passage A specifically raises this point: "because of the complexity of software, it is often prohibitively expensive to even find all the patents a given software product might in principle be infringing." Passage B never mentions the cost of searching for potentially infringed patents. Passage B mentions the high cost of patent litigation, but that's a different expense. Finding which patents you might be infringing comes before any lawsuit.

85%
c

the negative effect ██ ███████ ██ ████████ ███████████

Both passages cover this. Passage A argues that software patents make it "almost impossible to develop a software product without infringing numerous patents." Passage B states that "patents generally impede innovation in software development." Different wording, same idea.

3%
d

the high cost ██ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███████

Passage B mentions "the high cost of patent litigation." Passage A discusses costly patent problems but doesn't single out litigation costs in general. If anything, this is in Passage B but not Passage A, which is the reverse of what the question asks for.

4%
e

the dubious nature ██ ████ ████████ ███████

Both passages raise doubts about the quality of software patents. Passage A argues the courts have "dramatically lowered the bar for obviousness," resulting in "bad patents." Passage B refers to "the questionable nature of many software patents generally." Both passages treat many software patents as dubious.

6%

Confirm action

Are you sure?