Reading comp PrepTest 139 · Section 3 · Question 15

Passage

Passage A is from a 2007 article on the United States patent system; passage B is from a corporate statement Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal


Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Example of how permissive patent office has become in granting patents.
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Ideal situation: patent office only gives patents for nonobvious inventions (first sentence)
    • Example of how this is being ignored: court held that technology company infringed on patents covering computers that perform translation from Internet address to phone number (second sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “theoretically” (first sentence); “seems obvious” (first sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Patent-granting departing from ideal; patents being granted for very broad inventions.
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Ideal situation: patents granted narrowly so others can “invent around” them (first sentence)
    • Actual situation: patent office granting very broad patents so that others can’t invent around them (fourth sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “in an ideal world” (first sentence); “narrow enough” (first sentence); “unfortunately” (second sentence); “dramatically lowered” (third sentence); “so broad” (fourth sentence); “practically impossible” (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Technology companies racing to accumulate patents as defense mechanism.
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Result of permissive patent regime: large technology companies racing to accumulate patents, so that if it is sued for patent infringement, it can countersue the other party based on infringement of one of a large group of patents (first-second sentences)
      • Some tech companies haven’t joined the arms race = mistake (third sentence), because this leaves them defenseless against lawsuits (fourth sentence)
      • Analogy: accumulating patents like accumulating nuclear weapons (first sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “bad patents” (first sentence); “nuclear stockpiling” (first sentence); credible deterrent” (second sentence); “fundamental mistake” (third sentence); “find itself defenseless” (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Consequences of permissive patent regime for software industry: particularly bad.
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Software particularly vulnerable to permissive patent regime
      • Reason 1: software assembled from modular components (first sentence)
        • If patent office allows those modules to be patented, impossible to develop software product without infringement (second sentence)
      • Reason 2: Software is complex
        • Prohibitively expensive to find all patents a given software product might be infringing (third sentence), so couldn’t find and license all the patents even if you wanted to (fourth sentence)
      • Author’s attitude: “ripe for abuse” (first sentence); “almost impossible” (second sentence); “prohibitively expensive” (third sentence); “unlikely to be able” (fourth sentence)

Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Software company: software patents impede innovation.
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Some software makers believe software patents impede innovation and are inconsistent with open-source/free software (first sentence)
      • This company aligns itself with those who oppose patents (second sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “makers like ours” (first sentence); “consistently” (first sentence); “inconsistent with” (first sentence); “promote this position” (second sentence); “join our colleagues” (second sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Current patent regime allows for abuse of patents by large companies.
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Small number of large companies have a huge stockpile of software patents (second sentence)
    • These patents can be misused because:
      • Reason 1: questionable nature of software parents (third sentence)
      • Reason 2: high cost of patent litigation (third sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “forced to live” (first sentence); “ripe for misuse” (third sentence); “questionable nature” (third sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Software company has decided to stockpile patents in spite of inconsistency with previous stance.
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Defensive strategy against large companies stockpiling patents: amass your own war chest of patents (first sentence)
      • Many software makers do this (second sentence)
    • The company has decided to do this, even though it is inconsistent with their previous stance against patents, because they have to be prudent (third sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “defensive purposes” (first sentence); “in the interests of our company” (third sentence); “protect and promote” (third sentence); “reluctantly” (fourth sentence); “perceived inconsistency” (fourth sentence); “prudence dictates” (fourth sentence)

Main Points:

Passage A - The current patent regime is very permissive, leading to technology companies amassing patents to defend themselves against infringement suits; this is a particular problem in the software industry.

Passage B - A software company spokesperson declares that, though they believe software patents inhibit innovation and are inconsistent with open-source software, they have decided to stockpile patents in order to defend themselves against infringement suits, as other companies have done.

Key Lines?

Passage A:

Passage A, Paragraph 2, Sentence 4 (PA P3 S4) - Problem with current patent regime: too permissive

PA P3 S1-2 - Generalization: how technology companies respond to patent regime

PA P3 S3 - Have to engage in patent stockpiling

PA P4 S1 - Example: Software industry; reason 1 for particular vulnerability

PA P4 S3 - Reason 2 for particular vulnerability

Passage B:

PB P1 S1 - Statement of previous policy

PB P2 S3 - Problem

PB P3 S1 - Possible solution

PB P3 S3 - Adoption of solution

Meta-Structure? Relationship Between Passages?

Passage A: Generalization/Example - This passage uses a Generalization/Example Meta-Structure. The author points out a problem with the current patent granting and enforcement regime: patents are granted too easily and for very broad purposes. This means that companies are not able to innovate without infringing existing patents. The generalization that the author states is that technology companies respond to the patent regime by amassing war chests of patents in a defensive way so that if they are sued for infringement, they can countersue any potential adversary. The example the author gives of an industry in which this is a particular issue is the software industry, which the author states is particularly vulnerable to patent abuse.

Passage B: Problem/Solution - This passage uses a Problem/Solution Meta-Structure. The author of this passage is a spokesperson for a software company acting in precisely the way that the author of passage A described. The author of passage B states that the fact that other companies are amassing war chests of patents is a problem for them, because they don’t have a similar war chest. Though the company in question believes in open-source software and is against software patents in principle, the solution they have decided to adopt in order to solve the problem they face is to amass a war chest of their own.

The relationship between these two passages is fairly straightforward: passage A describes a general state of affairs and then points out a specific example, and passage B validates this example by showing that the predictions of the author of passage A are correct in practice. The arguments and contentions of the two authors are roughly equivalent, with both pointing out the same problems of the permissive patent regime, the misuse of the patent system by companies amassing large numbers of patents for defensive purposes, and the consequences for the particularly vulnerable software industry. These authors are in agreement, with the author of passage A providing an overview of the issues involved and then the author of passage B following up with a perspective taken from a particular industry.

Last Thoughts?

These passages are similar in viewpoint but different in scope. Passage A deals with the patent regime in general, discussing technology companies as a sector, then drilling down to software. Passage B is much narrower in scope and is written from the perspective of an insider in the software industry responding to the forces described in passage A.

Question prompt

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Strategy Overview

Review the main points of both passages, then find an answer that captures those main points in title form.

Answer Anticipation

This is the first question on almost all comparative passages. We can think of this as a Main Point question, in which the main point is expressed in title form. To answer this, we can think of the main point of both passages, then frame those main points as titles.As we anticipated, the main point of passage A is: “The current patent regime is very permissive, leading to technology companies amassing patents to defend themselves against infringement suits; this is a particular problem in the software industry.” The main point of passage B is “A software company spokesperson declares that, though they believe software patents inhibit innovation and are inconsistent with open-source software, they have decided to stockpile patents in order to defend themselves against infringement suits, as other companies have done.”Let’s find an answer that reflects these viewpoints while also keeping in mind that passage A was broader in scope, passage B lined up with an example from passage A, and the author of passage B was writing in the first person.

Answer choices

  1. A
    "The Use and Abuse Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this answer choice match our anticipation of the main points of both passages (A: “The current patent regime is very permissive, leading to technology companies amassing patents to defend themselves against infringement suits; this is a particular problem in the software industry” and B: “A software company spokesperson declares that, though they believe software patents inhibit innovation and are inconsistent with open-source software, they have decided to stockpile patents in order to defend themselves against infringement suits, as other companies have done,” respectively)?

    No. Passage A doesn’t focus on the “use” of patents, simply the “abuse” of them by technology companies enabled by a permissive patent regime (PA P2 S2, PA P3 S1). Also, passage B doesn’t advocate the elimination of software patents; the author says the company believes they “generally impede innovation” (PB P1 S1), but that “prudence” dictates that the company stockpile software patents in order to defend itself against infringement suits because other companies are doing the same thing (PB P3 S2-3).

    Because it mischaracterizes both passages, this is not the right answer choice.

  2. B
    "Reforming Patent Laws" "In Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this answer choice match our anticipation of the main points of both passages (A: “The current patent regime is very permissive, leading to technology companies amassing patents to defend themselves against infringement suits; this is a particular problem in the software industry” and B: “A software company spokesperson declares that, though they believe software patents inhibit innovation and are inconsistent with open-source software, they have decided to stockpile patents in order to defend themselves against infringement suits, as other companies have done,” respectively)?

    No. Passage A doesn’t mention patent laws or any plans to reform them; it criticizes the current permissive patent office and overly broad enforcement of patents by the courts (PA P1 S2, PA P2 S2-3). The actual patent laws don’t come into the equation. Passage B doesn’t defend the practice of patenting software; indeed, in the first instance, the author states that the company is against software patents because they “generally impede innovation” (PB P1 S1). Even though the company has decided to stockpile software patents as a defensive measure, this is just a response to a patent situation which is “ripe for misuse” (PB P3 S3, PB P2 S3).

    Because it mischaracterizes both passages, this is not the right answer choice.

  3. C
    "Patenting the Obvious" "Patents: Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) Does this answer choice match our anticipation of the main points of both passages (A: “The current patent regime is very permissive, leading to technology companies amassing patents to defend themselves against infringement suits; this is a particular problem in the software industry” and B: “A software company spokesperson declares that, though they believe software patents inhibit innovation and are inconsistent with open-source software, they have decided to stockpile patents in order to defend themselves against infringement suits, as other companies have done,” respectively)?

    Yes. The author of passage A mentions that they disagree with the patent office’s practice of patenting the obvious, because theoretically, patents should be issued only for “nonobvious” inventions (PA P1 S1). They say that this practice has led to overly broad patents being granted, and thus to the “arms race” between technology companies (PA P2 S3-4, PA P3 S1).

    The author of passage B says that, though the company disagrees with the practice of patenting software in principle (PB P1 S1), they will be amassing their own stockpile of patents as a “defense” against misuse of patents by other companies (PB P3 S1-3).

    So this answer choice captures the essence of each passage and is in line with our anticipation. We can be sure it is the right choice.

  4. D
    "A Misunderstanding of Patent Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this answer choice match our anticipation of the main points of both passages (A: “The current patent regime is very permissive, leading to technology companies amassing patents to defend themselves against infringement suits; this is a particular problem in the software industry” and B: “A software company spokesperson declares that, though they believe software patents inhibit innovation and are inconsistent with open-source software, they have decided to stockpile patents in order to defend themselves against infringement suits, as other companies have done,” respectively)?

    No. The author of passage A doesn’t say that anyone has been misunderstanding patent policies, simply misusing them (PA P4 S1), so this answer choice mischaracterizes the author’s point. The author passage B doesn’t say that software should be free, and they don’t talk about safety either.

    Because it lacks support in both passages, this is not the right answer choice.

  5. E
    "Developing a Credible Deterrent Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this answer choice match our anticipation of the main points of both passages (A: “The current patent regime is very permissive, leading to technology companies amassing patents to defend themselves against infringement suits; this is a particular problem in the software industry” and B: “A software company spokesperson declares that, though they believe software patents inhibit innovation and are inconsistent with open-source software, they have decided to stockpile patents in order to defend themselves against infringement suits, as other companies have done,” respectively)?

    No. The author of passage A is not primarily concerned with defending against patent lawsults; they are focused on how the patent system has become misused (PA P4 S1). Stockpiling of overly broad patents by large technology companies has led to an arms race that other companies have felt the need to join in order to defend themselves (PA P3 S1-4). This is one example the author offers of how the patent system has become misused, but this “arms race” is not the point of the passage.

    The author of passage B is not apologizing to their customers, per se. They are making a declarative statement about the company’s policy and explaining the reasons for their decision in light of the actions of their competitors and market forces (PB P3 S3), so the message is not directed primarily at their customers, but to competitors, interested parties, the public at large, employees, colleagues, and others.

    Because this answer choice mischaracterizes the focus of passage A and the audience of passage B, it is not the right answer choice.

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 17%
  2. B 5%
  3. C Credited 60%
  4. D 6%
  5. E 12%

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