Reading Comprehension

PT157 · S4 · P4 · Q25 Patenting Software

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This passage was adapted from an article published in 1991.

Topic

Legal protection for computer software, specifically the debate over whether copyright or patent law is more appropriate.

Framework

Challenge Position

Main Point

Patents should not be extended to software programs because software is better protected under copyright law, which already offers sufficient financial incentive for innovation; software algorithms represent general ideas, not inventive processes, and should not be patentable. (The "Most Valuable Sentence" expressing this appears at the start of Paragraph 3: )

P1: Introduction to the Problem and the Debate

Most people agree that software creators need some legal protection from copycats to keep innovation profitable, and while copyright is widely seen as effective, some argue that patent protection should also cover software.

P2: Explaining Algorithms and the Patent Argument

This paragraph explains what algorithms are, and notes that software encodes these algorithms. Proponents of software patents claim that encoding algorithms is like designing a patentable process—like inventing a new way to run a chemical reaction. However, the author argues that algorithms are generic principles, not inventions, and thus shouldn’t be patentable—just as physical laws or general principles aren’t.

P3: Arguing for Copyright, Not Patents

The author claims that granting patents to software would give developers extra protection they don’t really need; software is more suitably protected by copyright, which covers specific ways of expressing ideas, not the underlying concepts themselves. A slight change to copyright laws would be enough, maintaining incentives for innovation without overprotecting software creators.

25.

In the final paragraph, the assertion that software programs constitute the expression of ideas in the form of specific texts functions primarily as

  1. an example of a counterintuitive

    Wrong Emphasis

    Nothing in the passage ever talks about any claims being counterintuitive. There isn't anything confusing or surprising about this sentence we're being asked about. If anything, the author is building the case that since computer programs are ultimately the expression of ideas in written texts, then intuitively they belong under copyright law.

    4% picked this

  2. Correct

    a rationale for the author's

    Why this is right

    This whole final paragraph is solidifying the author's position that we should be protecting computer programs with copyright, not patent law. Why? What's the author's rationale for that? Well, software programs are expression of ideas in the form of specific text. Patents protect the underlying design of an invention, even if it's never executed. Copyright protects only the particular way in which the underlying ideas are expressed.

    Skill tested: Local Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    81% picked this

  3. a causal explanation for a

    Wrong Emphasis

    Nothing in the last paragraph has anything to do with talking about what is causing a certain phenomenon to occur. The best we could do to make this answer work is say, "The author is saying that the fact that computer programs are the expression of ideas in the form of specific texts causes the phenomenon of software programs' being covered by copyright law." That's too much of a stretch when we have the more appropriate language offered by (B). The final paragraph isn't trying to tell us the causal backstory of how software ended up being covered by copyright law. The final paragraph is where the author is convincing us that software is correctly covered by copyright law only.

    3% picked this

  4. a layperson's definition of a

    Wrong Emphasis

    The sentence in question provides an abstract description that applies to software programs. It's not a definition of what a software program is, and most importantly "software program" is not a technical legal term.

    5% picked this

  5. a point of consensus between

    Unsupported

    It's true that everyone in the debate over whether software should/shouldn't get patent protection would probably agree to the idea that software programs express ideas in the form of specific texts of code. So while this sentence presumably is a point of consensus among people with differing viewpoints, that's not why the author is uttering this sentence. There's nothing in the last paragraph that suggests the author is trying to establish some common ground between opposing viewpoints. In the final paragraph, the author is consolidating her conclusion, which goes against the opposing viewpoint.

    6% picked this

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