首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Patents and Inventions When an invention is made, the inventor has three possible courses of action open to him: first, he can g
Patents and Inventions When an invention is made, the inventor has three possible courses of action open to him: first, he can g
admin
2013-08-12
57
问题
Patents and Inventions
When an invention is made, the inventor has three possible courses of action open to him: first, he can give the invention to the world by publishing it; keep the idea secret or patent it. Secrecy obviously
evaporates
once the invention is sold or used, and there is always the risk that in the meantime another inventor, working quite independently will make and patent the same discovery. A granted patent is the result of a bargain struck between an inventor and the state, whereby, in return for a limited period of monopoly(16 years in the UK), the inventor publishes full details of his invention to the public.
Once the monopoly period expires, all those details of the invention pass into the public domain.(A)
Only in the most exceptional circumstances is the life-span of a patent extended to alter this normal process of events.(B)
The longest extension ever granted was to Georges Valensi: his 1939 patent for color TV receiver circuitry was extended until 1971.(C)
Because for most of the patent’s normal life there was no color TV to receive and thus no hope of reward for the invention.(D)
George Valensi was more fortunate than most of other inventors.
Because a patent remains
perpetually
published after it has expired, the shelves of the library attached to the British Patent Office contain details of literally millions of ideas that are free for anyone to use and, if older than half a century, sometimes even re-patent. Indeed, patent experts often advise anyone wishing to avoid the high cost of conducting a search through live patents, that the one sure way of avoiding infringement of any other inventor’s rights is to
plagiarize
a dead patent.
Likewise, because publication of an idea in any other form permanently invalidates future patents on that idea, it is traditionally safe to cull ideas from other areas of print.
Much modern technological advance is based on these presumptions of legal security.
Anyone closely involved in patents and inventions soon learns that most "new" ideas are, in fact, as old as the hills. It is their reduction to commercial practice, either through necessity, dedication or the availability of new technology, that makes news and money. The basic patents for the manufacture of margarine and the theory of magnetic recording date back to 1869 and 1886 respectively. Many of the original ideas behind television stem from the late 19th and early 20th century, well before Baird aroused public interest. Every stereo gramophone sold today owes its existence to the theory patented by Blumlein in 1931, and even the Volkswagen rear engine car was anticipated by a 1904 patent for a cart with the horse at the rear.
Such anticipations can have surprising significance. The German chemical giant, BASF, was recently refused a patent for the clever idea of pumping expanded plastics into a submerged ship and thereby floating it to the surface. The
grounds
of the refusal were that the German Examiner had once seen a Walt Disney cartoon in which Donald Duck had performed a similar trick on a sunken boat with table-tennis balls. If the BASF scheme proves successful in practice and enables valuable wrecks to be salvaged it is likely that Walt Disney will be credited as the inventor.
Even the apparently safe history of the telephone and gramophone contains some surprises. US legal case law details how an American called Drawbaugh had ideas for a telephone which anticipated Bell’s patents of 1875 —1876 by five years, but it was Alexander Graham Bell who made the system practical on a commercial level and was acknowledged and rewarded as inventor.
The future will produce many similar situations. Patents are daily being granted for ideas from inventors for schemes that cannot yet work~-but that one day, following massive investment by industry, will become a reality. It is remarkably easy to sit in the comfort of an armchair and patent pipe dreams which are nothing more than prophecies of the future and problems for others to solve.
In Paragraph 6, the author gives an example of telephone and gramophone in order to prove that______.
选项
A、the apparently clear history is not dependable
B、the history of patents and inventions contains surprises
C、U. S. legal system has serious problems relating to patents
D、Alexander Bell plagiarized the idea of Drawbaugh
答案
B
解析
本题是修辞题,考查考生能否理解和领会作者的写作手法和修辞手段。题目问:作者在第六段中引用了大量的例子,其的目是什么?在第六段中,作者列举电话机、留声机的例子是为了证明发明和申请专利的过程往往是一件令人惊奇的事情,因此选B;而并非为了要证明历史是不准确的(选项A);或美国立法机构对专利的管理有问题(选项C);或亚历山大·贝尔剽窃了他人的专利(选项D)。这些信息要么是错误的,要么并非作者写作的目的,都不是正确选项。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/5mfO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSorANUMBERforeachanswer.DISSERTATIONINFORMATION
Completethetablebelow.WriteNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSfareachanswer.
Completetheformbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSforeachanswer.ExpeditionAcrossAttoraMountainsLeader:CharlesOwen
CircleTHREElettersA~F.WhattypesoffilmsdoesLouiselike?(A)Action(B)Comedies(C)Musicals(D)Romance(E)Westerns(F)Wild
Themanwantsinformationoncoursesfor
Choosethecorrectletter,A,BorC.WildlifeincitygardensThespeakerfocusesonthreeanimalspec
Writethecorrectletter,A-F,nexttoquestions21-26.AVideoResourceCentreBReadingRoomCFoodServiceCentreDPeriodic
Choosethecorrectletter,A,BorC.MuseumofAnthropology
随机试题
A企业为矿山企业,地下金属矿山采用竖井、斜井、斜坡道联合开拓方式和下行分层胶结充填采矿方法。2012年5月9日8时,司机甲和司机乙开始在井下1150工作面进行铲装作业。9时,甲使用的铲装车出现故障,无法正常作业,于是来到休息室休息。10时30分,乙完成自
下列不属于社会性动机的是()。
关于什么是公文,自古以来定义甚多,众说纷纭。下列选项中不正确的是:
防火阀70℃时自动关闭。()
简述在票据诉讼案件中,除权判决的效力。
直肠外脱垂最常用的检查方法为
宿主的天然抵抗力()
苯妥英钠轻度中毒的表现为
要你带领3个人在3天内到16家保险公司调查他们的违规行为,你会怎么办?
某工程项目公司的信息管理系统的部分关系模式如下:职工(职工编号,姓名,性别,居住城市);项目(项目编号,项目名称,状态,城市,负责人编号);职工项目(职工编号,项目编号)。其中:1)一个职工可以同时参与多个
最新回复
(
0
)