RC-OG20-Passage29 patent system

Becausethe framers of the United States Constitution (written in 1787) believed thatprotecting property rights relating to inventions would encourage the newnation’s economic growth, they gave Congress—the national legislature—aconstitutional mandate to grant patents for inventions. The resulting patentsystem has served as a model for those in other nations.（背景介绍，专利系统的设立） //Recently, however,scholars have questioned whether the American system helped achieve theframers’ goals. （转折，学者质疑专利系统到底有没有达到立法者的目的）These scholars have contended thatfrom 1794 to roughly 1830, Americaninventors were unable to enforce property rights because judges were “antipatent” and routinelyinvalidated patents for arbitrary reasons. （展开上一句；学者的论点，说发明者根本没法行使专利权力）This argument is basedpartly on examination of court decisionsin cases where patent holders (“patentees”)brought suit alleging infringementof their patent rights.（支持上一句；论据是专利案子的判决结果）Inthe 1820s, for instance, 75 percent of verdicts were decided against thepatentee.（例证）//The proportion of verdicts for the patentee began to increase in the 1830s, suggesting to these scholarsthat judicial attitudes toward patent rights began shifting then.（发生了shift这个事实，现在没说为什么，但学者认为还是法官态度引起的shift）

本段SUMMARY:学者观点+论据+例证

Not allpatent disputes in the early nineteenth century were litigated, however, andlitigated cases were not drawn randomly from the population of disputes.（事实，论证下面作者观点） Therefore the rate of verdicts in favor of patentees cannot be used by itselfto gauge changes in judicial attitudes or enforceability of patent rights.（作者明确反对学者观点，说判决成功率不能反映法官态度或者专利权利的实行程度）//（下面作者开始继续证明自己观点；证明上一句） If early judicial decisions were prejudiced against patentees, one might expect thatsubsequent courts—allegedly more supportive of patent rights—would reject the former legalprecedents. Butpre-1830 cases have been cited as frequently as later decisions, and theycontinue to be cited today, suggesting that the early decisions, many of whichclearly declared that patent rights were a just recompense for inventiveingenuity, provided a lasting foundation for patent law. （和BUT一起看，说明这个IF不成立，即之前的法官判决并没有偏见）//Theproportion of judicial decisions in favor of patentees began to increase duringthe 1830s because of a changein the underlying population of cases brought to trial. （开始用他因来攻击开头学者们的观点，即shift不是因为法官态度，而是因为过审后到法庭的案子的数量变化，下面是细节）Thischange was partly due to an 1836 revision to the patent system: an examinationprocedure, still in use today, was instituted in which each application isscrutinized for its adherence to patent law. Previously, patents wereautomatically granted upon payment of a $30 fee.

本段SUMMARAY: 作者态度：反对学者；作者观点+论述+用事实攻击学者