PrepTest 144 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 10

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The following passage was adapted from a law journal article published in 1998.

Intro topic · Intellectual property protection for biotech discoveries

Both industries and academia support protection.

Question · How much does patenting in biotech hinder basic research?

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.

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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.

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

10.

With which one of the █████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██████

Question Type

Author’s perspective

Implied

It’s difficult to predict the correct answer, but we can have a sense that it will be supported by the last paragraph, which is where the author expresses her own opinion about patents for biotechnology research.

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Anti-supported.

Corporate patent holders █████████ ██████ █████████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ████████ █████████ █████ ████████ ██████████

We have no evidence the author thinks corporate patent holders “typically” (most of the time) charge excessive fees for the right to conduct research involving their patented materials. Other researchers fear that this happens, but we don’t know what the author thinks about how often this occurs.

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Supported.

88%

Biotechnology researchers in ████████ ████████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██ █████ ████████

We have no evidence the author has an opinion about the funding of researchers in academic institutions.

Scientists who oppose ███ ████ ██ █████████ █████████████ ██ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████████

We have no evidence that the author thinks scientists who oppose patenting biotechnology are motivated by the lack of innovation in their own work.

PrepTest 144 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 10

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