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
7.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
By commercializing the ████████ ███████████ █████████████ ███████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████
This doesn’t capture the author’s opinion, which is that biotechnology patents are unlikely to threaten the progress of basic research.
b
The recent shift ████ ████ █ ████████ █████████ ███ ██████ █ █████████████ ████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████████ █████ ███████████
This doesn’t capture the author’s own opinion about biotechnology patents. The main point isn’t just that there’s a debate; the main point is that those who think patents will severely restrict research are likely not correct.
c
The current system ██ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ████████ ████████ █████████ ████ ████████ ███████████ ███ ██████████ ██████████
The author’s main point isn’t critical of the current system of patent protection. So the main point wouldn’t be that the current system is “unfair.”
d
Concerns expressed by ████████ ███████████ ████ █████████████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ██████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██████████
This best captures the author’s opinion, which is that
e
Patent litigation is ██ █████████ ████ █████████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ███████████████████ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ███████ ██ █████ █████████
This is too narrow to be the main point. The author does use the expense of patent litigation as a supporting point, but the broader point that it supports is the idea that patents won’t be as restrictive to research as some scientists think.