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
36
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.
An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
As a compromise between inventors and the public, patents enjoy secrecy and monopoly only to a limited degree.
Answer Choices
(A)If the state grants a patent, the inventor must publish all the information about his invention to the public.
(B)Extension of patents is very rare and if there is any, extensions are usually very short.
(C)The history of patent and invention is not reliable because most inventions are plagiarized.
(D)Most new inventions and patents are actually very old and these cases can sometimes have significant influence.
(E)The Walt Disney cartoons can contribute to society by aspiring inventors to make innovative discoveries.
(F)We use inventions in everyday life such as TVs and telephones, which originated from inventions of the past.
选项
答案
A. If the state grants a patent, the inventor must publish all the information about his invention to the public. B. Extension of patents is very rare and if there is any, extensions are usually very short. D. Most new inventions and patents are actually very old and these cases can sometimes have significant influence.
解析
本题是篇章总结题,考查考生对全文段落大意的总体把握能力。上述三个句子很好地概括了原文的主要思想内容,即如果政府批准某项专利,发明者必须将发明相关信息公之于众;专利很少获得延长,而且即使有,通常时间也很短;大多数的发明其实都很古老,这些古老的发明通常产生了很重大的影响。而另外三个句子,有的不符合原文内容,有的并非阐述了文章的中心思想。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ymfO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Completetheformbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSforeachanswer.ExpeditionAcrossAttoraMountainsLeader:CharlesOwen
CircleTHREElettersA~F.WhattypesoffilmsdoesLouiselike?(A)Action(B)Comedies(C)Musicals(D)Romance(E)Westerns(F)Wild
CircleTHREElettersA~F.WhattypesoffilmsdoesLouiselike?(A)Action(B)Comedies(C)Musicals(D)Romance(E)Westerns(F)Wild
Completetheformbelow.WriteNOMORETHANONEWORDORANUMBERforeachanswer.VIDEOLIBRARY
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSAND/ORANUMBERforeachanswer.SCHEDULEOFACTIONRead’Approache
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSAND/ORANUMBERforeachanswer.SCHEDULEOFACTIONRead’Approache
Completethenotesbelowusingwordsfromthebox.ArtGalleryCathedralCastleGardensMarketsTouristattractionsopenallday
Writethecorrectletter,A-F,nexttoquestions21-26.AVideoResourceCentreBReadingRoomCFoodServiceCentreDPeriodic
Writethecorrectletter,A-F,nexttoquestions21-26.AVideoResourceCentreBReadingRoomCFoodServiceCentreDPeriodic
Choosethecorrectletter,A,BorC.MuseumofAnthropology
随机试题
A.肱动脉损伤B.胭动脉损伤C.尺神经损伤D.腓总神经损伤E.股骨头缺血性坏死腓骨小头骨折可引起
男性,62岁,间断左上腹痛,腹泻、便秘交替,偶有血便一年半。近1周来进食后即感腹部不适,大便次数明显增多,其中混有未消化的食物。查体:剑突下偏左侧可触及一直径3cm的质硬肿块,形状不规则。最可能的诊断是
某甲在医学院获得了专科毕业证书,此时他可以
【背景资料】某单位施工胶带大巷,巷道净断面22m2、长度2500m,采用锚喷支护。地质资料显示胶带大巷在840~860m左右将穿过断层,断层可能导水。设计单位要求巷道穿越断层段增加U29钢支架加强支护,钢支架间距0.5m。在巷道施工到835m时
某企业从欧盟进口一批冻鱼,欲从大连口岸入境通关后转济南加工,下列表述正确的是
企业融资规模、时限与企业资本成本成正比例变化的关系。()
为贯彻落实国务院印发的《盐业体制改革方案》有关精神,国家发展改革委发出通知,决定自2017年1月1日起,全面放开食盐()。
钥匙是开锁的,锁就是问题。能把锁打开的钥匙才是有用的钥匙,能解决问题的管理才是有效的管理。锁有种种,钥匙也有种种。试图用——把钥匙打开万把锁,只能是理想,不是现实。钥匙的原理虽然是通用的,但是否真的有效、管用,却全在于“运用之妙,存乎一心”。锁有分工,分工
行政决策中枢系统,在行政决策组织体系中属“神经系统”。()
如果Cisco路由器有如下SNMP的配置Router(config)#snmp-serverenabletrapsRouter(config)#snmp-serverhostadmin.tjust.edu.cnadmin
最新回复
(
0
)