PrepTest 139 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 18

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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

18.

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

Question Type

Describe relationship

Split Approach: After passage A, eliminate any answer choice that isn’t factually accurate about passage A. Then, after passage B, choose the remaining answer choice that accurately describes how passage B relates to passage A.

Sequential Approach: We should go in with an extremely low-res summary of each passage—one that sums up each passage in a few words each. Passage A describes a problem in general terms, while passage B shares the experience of one company facing that problem.

Passage A objectively ███████ █ ███ ██ ███████ ███████ █ ████████████ █████ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████

The passage doesn’t report a set of events; the only event the passage mentions is a recent court decision. The rest of passage A focuses on presenting a problem.

Passage B doesn’t take issue with anything mentioned in passage A. Rather, it illustrates the problem presented in passage A from the point of view of a specific company facing that problem.

Passage A discusses █ ███████ ██ ██ █████████ ███████ █ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ █ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ████████

Passage A discusses the problem of patent stockpiling in the software industry.

Passage B states the position of an individual software company dealing with that problem.

92%

Passage A is ██████ ████████ ██ █ █████████ ████████ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ███████ █ ██ █ █████████████ ██ ████ █████████

Passage A does criticize the patent stockpiling strategy used by the software industry as one that presents problems.

But passage B doesn’t clarify that strategy. Author B doesn’t give us new details on how patent stockpiling works or correct any of the details mentioned in passage A. Rather, author B just shares one company’s view on that strategy.

Passage A describes ██ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███████ █ ████████ █ ███ ███ ██ ████ ████████

Passage does describe an impasse: companies stockpile patents in order to deter patent infringement lawsuits, but all that stockpiling increases the chances of accidentally infringing on someone else’s patent.

But passage B doesn’t suggest any solution. The author of passage B just participates in the impasse by deciding to join in on stockpiling patents.

Passage A lays ███ ████ █████ ██ █ ████████ ███████ █ ███████ ██ ███ ██ █████ ██████

Passage A doesn’t present opposing perspectives on anything. Author A shares only one perspective: stockpiling copyrights is a problem.

PrepTest 139 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 18

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