GWD22-9

yinhang_1217

        The system of patent-
        granting, which confers
        temporary monopolies for
Line  the exploitation of new tech-
 (5)  nologies, was originally
       established as an incentive
       to the pursuit of risky new
       ideas.  Yet studies of the      
       most patent-conscious
(10)  business of all—the semi-
      conductor industry—suggest
       that firms do not necessarily
       become more innovative as
       they increase their patenting
(15)  activity.  Ziedonis and Hall,
       for example, found that
       investment in research and
       development (a reasonable
       proxy for innovation) did
(20)  not substantially increase
        between 1982 and 1992,
       the industry’s most feverish
      period of patenting.  Instead,
       semiconductor firms simply
(25)  squeezed more patents out
       of existing research and
       development expenditures.
       Moreover, Ziedonis and
       Hall found that as patenting
(30)  activity at semiconductor
     firms increased in the
     1980’s, the consensus
     among industry employees
     was that the average quality
(35) of their firms’ patents
     declined.  Though patent
     quality is a difficult notion
     to measure, the number of
     times a patent is cited in
(40) the technical literature is
     a reasonable yardstick, and
     citations per semiconductor
     patent did decline during
     the 1980’s.  This decline in
(45)  quality may be related to
     changes in the way semi-
     conductor firms managed
     their patenting process:
     rather than patenting to win
(50)  exclusive rights to a valuable
       new technology, patents
       were filed more for strategic
       purposes, to be used as
       bargaining chips to ward
(55)  off infringement suites or
       as a means to block
       competitors’ products.

The passage makes which of the following claims about patent quality in the semiconductor industry?

• It was higher in the early 1980’s than it was a decade later.
  
• It is largely independent of the number of patents granted.
  
• It changed between 1982 and 1992 in ways that were linked to changes in research and development expenditures.
  
• It is not adequately discussed in the industry’s technical literature.
  
• It was measured by inappropriate means during the period from 1982 to 1992.
  答案A。可以理解。但是B也没错啊！patents的quality和number确实是两个不同的东西啊！