Patenting Software

Answer choices

1. A

   Wrong Viewpoint27% picked this

   The sequences of computer code through which a computer programmer expresses algorithms are more genuinely a product of the programmer's inventiveness

   This is what the author is arguing. He thinks that expressions of algorithm in code should be protected by copyright because that is where the intellectual property occurs. He thinks that algorithms are less genuinely a product of inventiveness, more like a natural principle everyone knows. This is his rationale for rejecting patent protection so it wouldn't make sense for it to be an opinion shared by proponents of patent protection.

   27%
2. B

   Wrong Viewpoint10% picked this

   Software algorithms are generic principles underlying the specific processes by which tasks are to be

   This is what the author is arguing. He thinks that expressions of algorithm in code should be protected by copyright because that is where the intellectual property occurs. But he thinks that algorithms are more like a general principle that can't be patented. This is his rationale for rejecting patent protection so it wouldn't make sense for it to be an opinion shared by proponents of patent protection.

   10%
3. C

   Too Strong8% picked this

   Patent protection should supplant copyright protection as the sole legal means of preventing copycat exploitation

   This goes beyond any proposal we know the proponents have made. We only know that they want patent protection for the underlying algorithms. We don't have any support that they think "there should no longer be any copyright protection for computer software. It should be exclusively done by patent protection."

   8%
4. D

   Correct54% picked this

   Both the algorithms and the specific way in which a software program expresses them should receive legal

   Why this is right

   The specific way an algorithm is expressed is covered by copyright protection. Both the author and the patent proponents are happy about that (they both want to protect the software developer's intellectual property and incentive for innovating). Where the author disagrees with the patent proponents is that he does not think the underlying algorithms should be patented, comparing them to a general principle like "wind can be used to harness energy". Meanwhile, the patent proponents think of designing an algorithm more like designing a new process, which can be patented. So whereas the author would say "only the specific expression of ideas should be protected", the patent proponents would say "both the algorithm and the specific expression of ideas should be protected (the former by patent law and the latter by copyright)."

   Skill tested: Non-Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   54%
5. E

   Out of Scope1% picked this

   As the number of available computer programming languages increases, copycat programming will

   The patent proponents are fueled by the fear that copycat programming is on the rise / is a dire problem in need of a big systemic change. That's why they're urging the extension of patent protection to software. This answer is making it sound like copycat programming isn't something to worry about. It's a declining trend.

   1%