Remember Napster or Grokster? Both services allowed users to share computer files—usually digital music—that infringed the copyr

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问题    Remember Napster or Grokster? Both services allowed users to share computer files—usually digital music—that infringed the copyrights for those songs. Now imagine that, instead of music, you could download a physical object. Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie—push a button and there’s the item! But that scenario is already becoming a reality with the help of 3D printers. 【F1】We can download a computer file, called a computer-aided design (CAP) file, that instructs the printer to make a physical, three-dimensional object.
   Because CAD files are digital, they can be shared across the internet on file-sharing services, just like movies and music. Just as digital media challenged the copyright system with rampant copyright infringement, the patent system likely will encounter widespread infringement of patented inventions through 3D printing. 【F2】The problem is, however, that the patent system is even more ill-equipped to deal with this situation than copyright law was, posing a challenge to a key component of our innovation system.
   Patents are actual documents issued by the federal government. They’re awarded for inventions that are nontrivial advances in the state of the art. A patent allows the owner to prevent others from making, using, selling or importing the invention. 【F3】These exclusive rights help keep competitors out of the market, allowing the patent owner to recover R&D costs. The owner also can use the patent to support efforts to commercialize the invention.
   Each printed copy of an invention is a lost potential sale to the patent holder. Alternatively, patent owners could go after the people facilitating the infringement. The Patent Act permits a patent holder to sue parties who induce others to infringe. 【F4】Potential inducers of patent infringement here could be the sellers of the 3D printers, someone providing CAD files of the patented device, or websites that sell or share various CAD files that instruct the 3D printer to make the patented invention. Copyright law similarly prohibits inducement of infringement. The same idea could apply in the patent context.
   But there is a huge problem with this approach: inducement of patent infringement requires actual knowledge of the relevant patent. For music, everyone knows the songs are copyrighted. Not everyone is aware that a particular device is covered by a patent. There are hundreds of thousands of patents in existence. 【F5】It’s highly unlikely that potential inducers would have actual knowledge of every patent that could be infringed by use of a 3D printer.
【F2】

选项

答案然而问题在于,在处理此类问题上,专利制度甚至比版权法更不健全,这就对我们创新体系当中的关键部分提出了挑战。

解析 ①主句的表语由一个较长的从句充当,表语从句也是主系表结构。②从句中包含A be more…than B的比较结构,than之后省略了同前面内容一样的表语成分(ill-equipped to deal with this situation)。此处是将专利制度和版权法在应对权益侵犯上作比较。③句末处现在分词短语posing a challenge…system作状语,表示上文提到的“在处理侵权问题上,专利制度甚至比版权法更不健全”的影响;pose a challenge意为“提出挑战”。
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