Over the past decade, thousands of patents have been granted for what are called business methods. Amazon.com received one for its “one-click” online payment system. Merrill Lynch got legal protection for an asset allocation strategy. One inventor patented a technique for lifting a box.
Now the nation’s top patent court appears completely ready to scale back on business-method patents, which have been controversial ever since they were first authorized 10 years ago. In a move that has intellectual-property lawyers abuzz the U.S. court of Appeals for the federal circuit said it would use a particular case to conduct a broad review of business-method patents. In Bilski , as the case is known , is “a very big deal”, says Dennis’D. Crouch of the University of Missouri School of law. It “has the potential to eliminate an entire class of patents.”
Curbs on business-method claims would be a dramatic about-face; because it was the federal circuit itself that introduced such patents with its 1998 decision in the so-called state Street Bank case, approving a patent on a way of pooling mutual-fund assets. That ruling produced an explosion in business-method patent filings, initially by emerging internet companies trying to stake out exclusive pinhts to specific types of online transactions. Later, move established companies raced to add such patents to their files, if only as a defensive move against rivals that might bent them to the punch. In 2005, IBM noted in a court filing that it had been issued more than 300 business-method patents despite the fact that it questioned the legal basis for granting them. Similarly, some Wall Street investment films armed themselves with patents for financial products, even as they took positions in court cases opposing the practice.
The Bilski case involves a claimed patent on a method for hedging risk in the energy market. The Federal circuit issued an unusual order stating that the case would be heard by all 12 of the court’s judges, rather than a typical panel of three, and that one issue it wants to evaluate is whether it should” reconsider” its state street Bank ruling.
The Federal Circuit’s action comes in the wake of a series of recent decisions by the Supreme Court that has narrowed the scope of protections for patent holders. Last April, for example the justices signaled that too many patents were being upheld for “inventions” that are obvious. The judges on the Federal circuit are “reacting to the anti-patient trend at the supreme court”, says Harole C.wegner, a patent attorney and professor at Jorge Washington University Law School.
1. Business-method patents have recently aroused concern because of
[A] their limited value to business
[B] their connection with asset allocation
[C] the possible restriction on their granting
[D] the controversy over authorization
2. Which of the following is true of the Bilski case?
[A] Its ruling complies with the court decisions
[B] It involves a very big business transaction
[C] It has been dismissed by the Federal Circuit
[D] It may change the legal practices in the U.S.
3. The word “about-face” most probably means
[A] loss of good will
[B] increase of hostility
[C] change of attitude
[D] enhancement of dignity
4. We learn from the last two paragraphs that business-method patents
[A] are immune to legal challenges
[B] are often unnecessarily issued
[C] lower the esteem for patent holders
[D] increase the incidence of risks
5. Which of the following would be the subject of the text?
[A] A looming threat to business-method patents
[B] Protection for business-method patent holders
[C] A legal case regarding business-method patents
[D] A prevailing trend against business-method patents
參考答案及解析
1、選C. 細節推理題。文章第二段首句指出，“……準備對商業方法專利進行縮減，而該類專利從其合法化的那天開始就壹直充滿了爭議。”從此得出，現在對其進行縮減必將引起人們的“關註”。
2、選B. 推理題。該題可以采用排除法。A、C、D選項都不符合文意。
3、選C. 詞匯題。“about-face”在這裏是承前啟後的作用，because引導的從句是對於該詞所述現象的解釋，“當初就是聯邦組通過的此類專利……”，而第二段提到了“現在……要縮減商業方法專利”，因此是“態度”的巨大轉變。
4、選B.假推理題：同義替換。從“too many patents were being upheld ”中可以找到答案，而其他三個選項在最後兩段都沒有被提及。
5/選D. 主旨題。文章首段介紹了“過去10年”商業方法的專利授予狀況，從第二段開始轉到“現狀”，同時，之後的各段均表述了聯邦成員組對“商業方法專利”變化的立場。
2019年6月大學英語四級閱讀理解訓練：名人的影響力In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Aladuell argues that social epidemics are driven in large part by the acting of a tiny minority of special individuals, often called influentials, who are unusually informed, persuasive, or well-connected. The idea is intuitively compelling, but it doesn’t explain how ideas actually spread.
The supposed importance of influentials derives from a plausible sounding but largely untested theory called the “two step flow of communication”: Information flows from the media to the influentials and from them to everyone else. Marketers have embraced the two-step flow because it suggests that if they can just find and influence the influentials, those selected people will do most of the work for them. The theory also seems to explain the sudden and unexpected popularity of people was wearing, promoting or developing whatever it is before anyone else paid attention. Anecdotal evidence of this kind fits nicely with the idea that only certain special people can drive trends.
In their recent work, however, some researchers have come up with the finding that influentials have far less impact on social epidemics than is generally supposed. In fact, they don’t seem to be required of all.
The researchers’ argument stems from a simple observation about social influence, with the exception of a few celebrities like Oprah Winfrey—whose outsize presence is primarily a function of media, not interpersonal, influence—even the most influential members of a population simply don’t interact with that many others. Yet it is precisely these non-celebring influentials who, according to the two-step-flow theory, are supposed to drive social epidemics by influencing their friends and colleagues directly. For a social epidemic to occur, however, each person so affected, must then influence his or her own acquaintances, who must in turn influence theirs, and so on; and just how many others pay attention to each of these people has little to do with the initial influential. If people in the network just two degrees removed from the initial influential prove resistant, for example the cascade of change won’t propagate very far or affect many people.
Building on the basic truth about interpersonal influence, the researchers studied the dynamics of populations manipulating a number of variables relating of populations, manipulating a number of variables relating to people’s ability to influence others and their tendency to be.
1. By citing the book The Tipping Point, the author intends to
[A]analyze the consequences of social epidemics
[B]discuss influentials’ function in spreading ideas
[C]exemplify people’s intuitive response to social epidemics
[D]describe the essential characteristics of influentials.
2.The author suggests that the “two-step-flow theory”
[A]serves as a solution to marketing problems
[B]has helped explain certain prevalent trends
[C]has won support from influentials
[D]requires solid evidence for its validity
3. what the researchers have observed recently shows that
[A] the power of influence goes with social interactions
[B] interpersonal links can be enhanced through the media
[C] influentials have more channels to reach the public
[D] most celebrities enjoy wide media attention
4.The underlined phrase “these people” in paragraph 4 refers to the ones who
[A] stay outside the network of social influence
[B] have little contact with the source of influence
[C] are influenced and then influence others
[D] are influenced by the initial influential
10. what is the essential element in the dynamics of social influence?
[A]The eagerness to be accepted
[B]The impulse to influence others
[C]The readiness to be influenced
[D]The inclination to rely on others
參考答案及解析
1、選B. 推理題。文章開頭作者介紹The Tipping Point這本書的中心思想是“壹小部分名人引領了社會潮流”，但是在段末又表示“書作者的想法並不能解釋思想是如何傳播的”，由此引出對名人在思想傳播中作用的討論。
2、選D.細節題。第二段的首句作者使用“a plausible sounding but largely untested theory”來修飾“two-step-flow theory”，同時第三段整段都是對名人思想傳播論的否定。
3、選A. 推理題。文章第四段主要表述了“社會交往的影響力”。
4、選C. 指代題。定位到文章第四段，前面表述的意思為，“人們受到別人影響後會進而影響後面的人”，These people所在句子的意思為，“有多少人註意這些人，他們與最初的那些名人壹點關系也沒有”，由此可知，那些人指的就是前文中所述的“受到別人影響後進而影響後人的人。”
5、選 C. 細節題。線索在文章的尾端末句“people’s ability to influence others and their tendency to be influenced”即“人們影響別人的能力及別人影響的傾向性。”，C項符合文意。