Patenting Software

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct38% picked this

   General scientific principles currently qualify for neither patent nor

   Why this is right

   The author talks about an example of something that wouldn't get patent protection at the end of the 2nd paragraph. He says although a windmill design could get patent protection. the underlying concept of being able to harness the wind for energy would not be a patentable thing. Why not? Because no one is inventing the idea that wind can be used for energy. That's just a general scientific principle. No one can patent the idea that "the sun's heat can be used to warm something up". What about copyright protection? Do we know whether general scientific principles get copyright protection? Here, we just have to use our common sense. Copyright is about intellectual property: stories, songs, movies, broadcasts. Do any of those things seem like general scientific principles? Could someone copyright the idea that wind can be harnessed to produce energy? No, not the principle. You could copyright a slogan, "Harness the Wind!" but not the underlying scientific principle.

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

   38%
2. B

   Contradicted20% picked this

   The value of patents lies primarily in their protection of the generic principles underlying

   Can we support that the #1 reason patents have value is that they protect generic principles? Not only is this language too strong for us to find available support text, it also goes against what we discuss in (A), for the correct answer. Patents would not protect some generic principle. That's why this author rejects the idea of patenting algorithms. She thinks they qualify as one of these generic principles.

   20%
3. C

   Unsupported15% picked this

   Items that qualify for patent protection usually also qualify for

   We wouldn't be able to say whether things that get patented can also get copyright protection at least 51% of the time. And there's so suggestion anywhere that the overlap is substantial.

   15%
4. D

   Contradicted22% picked this

   The algorithm underlying a copyrighted software application may not legally be used in a competing software application without

   The logic of this answer is that one company would have a copyright for a certain algorithm, so others aren't allowed to use that algorithm without that company's permission. But the passage never says that algorithms can be copyrighted. The passage discusses and rejects the possibility of letting algorithms be patented. But we have no support that for this idea that algorithms are protected by copyright. Only the unique expressions of code that accomplish an algorithm are copyrighted.

   22%
5. E

   Out of Scope4% picked this

   The majority of commercially available software applications contain at least some sequences of illegally

   The passage doesn't have any info that would help us prove that at least 51% of computer apps have some illegal code.

   4%