Now, it seems that the Supreme Patent Court of the United States is fully prepared to reduce the size of business method patents, which have been controversial since 10 years ago was first authorized. The U.S. Court of Appellates for the Federal Circuit said that it would use a special case to conduct extensive examination of business method patents, which caused a heated discussion among intellectual property lawyers. As we all know, this is "a big event" in Bilsky, Dennis said. Dr. Crouch of the University of Missouri Law School said. It "may destroy an entire class of patents."
Restrictions on business methods will be a dramatic change; Because it was the decision 1998 made by the federal circuit court in the so-called "State Street Bank" case that introduced such patents and approved a patent on the way of pooling mutual fund assets. This ruling led to a surge in business method patent applications, initially by emerging internet companies trying to report exclusively on certain types of online transactions. Later, some established companies competed to add such patents to their documents, even if it was only as a defense against competitors who might force them to yield. In 2005, IBM pointed out in a court document that although it questioned the legal basis for granting business method patents, it had obtained more than 300 business method patents. Similarly, some Wall Street investment films arm themselves with financial product patents, even if they object to this practice in court.
The Bilsky case involves a patent on the method of hedging risks in the energy market. The Federal Circuit Court issued an unusual order, saying that the case would be tried by all 12 judges of the court, instead of the typical three-person panel, and one question that the court wanted to evaluate was whether it should "reconsider" its ruling on State Street Bank.
The action of the Federal Circuit Court was taken after the Supreme Court recently made a series of decisions, which narrowed the scope of protection for patent holders. Last April, for example, judges hinted that too many patents were supported by obvious "inventions". Harold C. Wegner, a patent lawyer and professor at George Washington University Law School, said that judges of the Federal Circuit Court "are responding to the anti-patient trend of the Supreme Court".
1. The business method patent has recently attracted attention because
[A] Their limited value to business
[B] Their relationship with asset allocation
C. possible restrictions on the granting of these rights
D. Disputes over authorization
2. Which of the following is correct about the case of Bilsky?
(a) Its decision is in conformity with the court's decision
B.this involves a big business transaction.
[C] It has been rejected by the Federal Circuit Court.
D. it may change American legal practice.
3. The word "turn around" probably means
Loss of goodwill
[B] an increase in hostility
C. attitudinal change
D. Enhancing dignity
From the last two paragraphs, we know the business method patent.
[A] Freedom from legal challenges
[B] Often unnecessary distribution
[C] Reduce respect for patent holders.
[D] Increase the risk occurrence rate
5. Which of the following is the theme of this article?
[A] Potential threats to business method patents
[B] Protection of business method patent holders
Legal cases on business method patents
The popular trend of opposing business method patents
Reference answer and analysis
1, choose C. Detailed reasoning questions. The first sentence of the second paragraph of the article points out that "... we will reduce the patents of business methods, which have been controversial since the day they were legalized." From this, it is concluded that the reduction now will definitely arouse people's "concern".
2. choose B. reasoning questions. This problem can be solved by exclusion. Options a, c and d are inconsistent with the text.
3. choose C. vocabulary questions. "about-face" serves as a link between the past and the future. The clause headed by "because" explains the phenomenon described in the word. "At the beginning, this patent was passed by the federal group …", while the second paragraph mentions that "now … we should reduce the business method patents", which is a great attitude change.
4. choose B. false reasoning: synonymous substitution. The answer can be found in "Too many patents are pushed up", while the other three options are not mentioned in the last two paragraphs.
5/ choose D. theme. The first paragraph of the article introduces the patent granting status of business methods in 10 years, and from the second paragraph to the present situation. At the same time, the following paragraphs all express the position of the federal member groups on the change of business method patents.
In his book The tipping point, Malcolm Aladuell believes that social epidemics are largely driven by the actions of a few special individuals, who are usually called influencers, who are unusually knowledgeable, persuasive or well-connected. This idea is intuitively convincing, but it doesn't explain how ideas actually spread.
The supposed importance of influencers comes from a sound but basically untested theory called "two-step flow of communication": information flows from media to influencers and from them to others. Marketers have accepted the two-step process because it shows that if they can find and influence influencers, those who are selected will do most of the work for them. The theory also seems to explain that people's sudden and unexpected popularity is dressed, advertised or developed before others notice it. This anecdotal evidence is very consistent with the view that only some special people can push the trend.
However, in their recent work, some researchers found that the influence of influencers on social epidemics is far less than people usually think. In fact, they don't seem to be needed by everyone.
The researchers' argument stems from a simple observation of social influence. Except for a few celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, whose great influence is mainly the role of the media rather than interpersonal influence, even the most influential members of the population will not interact with others. However, according to the two-step flow theory, it is these unknown influencers who should directly influence their friends and colleagues to promote social popularity. However, for the occurrence of a social epidemic, everyone affected must influence his or her own acquaintances, and these acquaintances must in turn influence their acquaintances, and so on; It's just how many people pay attention to each of these people, which has little to do with the initial influence. For example, if people in the network are only two degrees away from the original influential people and prove to be resistant, then a series of changes will not spread far and will not affect many people.
Based on the basic facts of interpersonal influence, the researchers studied the population dynamics that manipulated a large number of population-related variables, and manipulated a large number of variables related to people's ability and tendency to influence others.
1. By quoting the book The tipping point, the author intends to
[A] Analysis of the consequences of social epidemics
Discuss the role of influencers in spreading ideas.
C. Give examples to illustrate people's intuitive response to social epidemics
Describe the basic characteristics of influencers.
2. The author puts forward the "two-step flow theory"
[A] as a solution to marketing problems
[B] It helps to explain some popular trends
Won the support of influential people.
[D] It needs conclusive evidence to prove its effectiveness
Recent observations by researchers show that
[A] influence is accompanied by social interaction.
[B] interpersonal relationships can be strengthened through the media.
C. Influential people have more channels to reach the public.
Most celebrities are widely concerned by the media.
The underlined phrase "these people" in paragraph 4 refers to those.
(a) Being outside the social influence network
[B] Little exposure to the source of the impact
C. Being influenced, and then influencing others
[D] affected by the initial.
10. What are the basic elements in the dynamics of social influence?
[A] eager to be accepted
[B] the impulse to influence others
C. Will affected
A tendency to depend on others
Reference answer and analysis
1, choose B. Inference. At the beginning of the article, the author introduced the central idea of the tipping point, that is, "a few celebrities lead the social trend", but at the end of the paragraph, he said that "the author's ideas can't explain how ideas spread", which triggered a discussion on the role of celebrities in the dissemination of ideas.
2. choose D. details. In the first sentence of the second paragraph, the author uses "an explainable but largely untested theory" to modify the "two-step flow theory", while the whole paragraph of the third paragraph is a denial of the theory of celebrity thought communication.
3. choose a. reasoning questions. The fourth paragraph of the article mainly expresses "the influence of social communication"
4. choose C. to refer to the problem. In the fourth paragraph of the article, the first sentence means "people will be influenced by others", and the sentence in which these people are located means "how many people pay attention to these people has nothing to do with the original celebrities" So, those people refer to the "people who are influenced by others and then affect their descendants" mentioned in the last article.
5. choose C. details. The clue is in the last sentence at the end of the article, "people's ability to influence others and their tendency to be influenced", that is, "people's ability to influence others and their tendency to influence others." Item c is in line with the text.