The system of patent-granting, which confers temporary monopolies for

Question

The system of patent-granting, which confers temporary monopolies for the exploitation of new technologies, was originally established as an incentive to the pursuit of risky new ideas. Yet studies of the most patent-conscious business of all—the semiconductor industry—suggest that firms do not necessarily become more innovative as they increase their patenting activity. Ziedonis and Hall, for example, found that investment in research and development (a reasonable proxy for innovation) did not substantially increase between 1982 and 1992, the industry’s most feverish period of patenting. Instead, semiconductor firms simply squeezed more patents out of existing research and development expenditures. Moreover, Ziedonis and Hall found that as patenting activity at semiconductor firms increased in the 1980’s, the consensus among industry employees was that the average quality of their firms’ patents declined. Though patent quality is a difficult notion to measure, the number of times a patent is cited in the technical literature is a reasonable yardstick, and citations per semiconductor patent did decline during the 1980’s. This decline in quality may be related to changes in the way semiconductor firms managed their patenting process: rather than patenting to win exclusive rights to a valuable new technology, patents were filed more for strategic purposes, to be used as bargaining chips to ward off infringement suites or as a means to block competitors’ products.  1. The passage is primarily concerned with discussing

(A) a study suggesting that the semiconductor industry’s approach to patenting during the period from 1982 to 1992 yielded unanticipated results
(B) a study of the semiconductor industry during the period from 1982 to 1992 that advocates certain changes in the industry’s management of the patenting process
(C) the connection between patenting and innovation in the semiconductor industry during the period from 1982 to 1992
(D) reasons that investment in research and development in the semiconductor industry did not increase significantly during the period from 1982 to 1992
(E) certain factors that made the period from 1982 to 1992 a time of intense patenting activity in the semiconductor industry
 1 
 C

2. The passage suggests which of the following about patenting in the semiconductor industry during the period from 1982 to 1992 ?

(A) The declining number of citations per semiconductor patent in the technical literature undermines the notion that patenting activity increased during this period.
(B) A decline in patent quality forced firms to change the way they managed the patenting process.
(C) Increased efficiencies allowed firms to derive more patents from existing research and development expenditures.
(D) Firms’ emphasis on filing patents for strategic purposes may have contributed to a decline in patent quality.
(E) Firms’ attempts to derive more patents from existing research and development expenditures may have contributed to a decline in infringement suites.
 2 
 D

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

(A) It was higher in the early 1980’s than it was a decade later.
(B) It is largely independent of the number of patents granted.
(C) It changed between 1982 and 1992 in ways that were linked to changes in research and development expenditures.
(D) It is not adequately discussed in the industry’s technical literature.
(E) It was measured by inappropriate means during the period from 1982 to 1992.
 3 
 A

4. Which of the following, if true, would most clearly serve to weaken the author’s claim about what constitutes a reasonable yardstick for measuring patent quality?

(A) It is more difficult to have an article accepted for publication in the technical literature of the semiconductor industry than it is in the technical literature of most other industries.
(B) Many of the highest-quality semiconductor patents are cited numerous times in the technical literature.
(C) It is difficult for someone not familiar with the technical literature to recognize what constitutes an innovative semiconductor patent.
(D) There were more citations made per semiconductor patent in the technical literature in the 1970’s than in the 1980’s.
(E) Low-quality patents tend to be discussed in the technical literature as frequently as high-quality patents.
 4 
 E

5. The passage suggests that the use of patents as bargaining chips to ward off infringement suits

(A). was rarely successful during the 1980s
(B). became increasingly infrequent in the 1980s
(C). does not fulfill the intended purpose of the patent-granting system
(D). is a consequence of the decline in patent quality
(E). is discussed increasingly in the semiconductor industry’s technical literature

5 
 C

mymba99 · Answer

Yes. But I don't have OEs.

chineseburned · Answer

My answers after spending 5 min on all: E,D,C,E

What are OA?

dushver · Answer

Here are my answers 7c, 8d, 9a, 10e. Please do post the OAs

mymba99 · Answer

I took 12 minutes and got ONLY one right. OAs: 7A, 8D, 9A ,10E Lets discuss if you do not agree with OAs. Many Thanks. :-D

chineseburned · Answer

Ouch

This is a weird passage. What's the source?

FN · Answer

man..i got 7 and 9 wrond..

i got C for 7 and and B for 9

singalong · Answer

I dont think OA for 8th question is D here.

galaxian · Answer

The OA is CDAE Google the source & Plz convert into English & check out the bold options which are the answers! PS: Couldn't post the source as I dont have 5 posts yet! :evil:

vinzycoolfire · Answer

CDBE is my answer.
i took 6mins and 40 sec
IMO A is not correct for 9th. there is no proof for that.also, it cannot be assumed .
B is somewhat implied

here is my explanation. discussions are welcome

Q7B
read the first 15 lines. They establish a relationship between innovation and patents.
an example is discussed in the following lines.
A says passage is concerned with the exmple. incorrect
B there is no advocation here at all, only the problem is presented.incorrect
C correct
D & E out of scope.

Q8D
self explanatory, if someone has a question feel free to ask.

Q9B
for those saying A, my question is this..how do you quantify "early 1980s"?
in other words tell me the years in question. u can't. it is generally believed
"early" would refer to the first few years of the decade(1-5 yrs). in the middle of the early
period(i.e 1982) you see a drop in the standard. also a decade later there might have been a raise.
so there is no justification for this.
B is implied. between 1982 and 1992 we see more patents but less quality.
C,D and E are irrelavant.

Q10E
Author's claim:quality can be measured using number of citations.
how to undermine: low quality getting many citations.
obviouslyE.

eybrj2 · Answer

OA is CDAE

I have a question regarding the question 9.

I can see why A is correct but cannot see why B is not.
I picked B. My reasoning was like this.

Even though the number of patents increased, the quality of patents decreased.
Thus, the number of patents is not related with the quality of patents.

feel free to point out the flaws that the logic has.

roopika2990 · Answer

IMO CDAE ... quite a simple one ...

roopika2990 · Answer

the number of patents depends on the way pateneting process is managed which is the reason for the deline in the quality of patents ... hence they are not independant of eachother ...

ronr34 · Answer

regarding Q7, can anyone explain why the OA is C and not A?
I have just done it on GMATPREP and the OA is C.
But I do not get why.
Thanks

prateekbhatt · Answer

OA of ques 7 is C instead of A. Changed.

Ergenekon · Answer

The first question was really tough. Answered incorrectly.

prabhakar09 · Answer

From what i understood:

The Option A is talking about one study, one example. that is not what the author wants to talk about. So is B. So these two are Out. D is out because not related to the topic. 
Option E is on the edge of the scope. 
C is best option.

P.S i also got it in GMAT prep. and got it wrong.

megha_2709 · Answer

10 mins , all correct , but still 10 mins in one para

. can someone suggest what is the ideal way of attempting RC , is it skim through the passage? or read only the first line and last line then answer the questions by doing word match ? or read the entire passage carefully ? Please suggest , would really appreciate it. Also what is the ideal time to be spent on 1 passage. would appreciate your comments on this. Thanks Megha

prabhakar09 · Answer

Megha,

there are many strategy as you have already mentioned. and you would have to test each of the strategy on 5-10 questions to know which works best for you. I am a slow reader and skimming doesn't work for me at all. One thing that i have understood if you have to refer to the text again and again then you are doing it wrong.

As for timing. For small passages ~6 min (3 questions)=> 3 min for passage 1 min each for question. for long passage 4 min reading 1 min each for questions. so 7-8 minutes.

megha_2709 · Answer

Thanks a lot Prabhakar, thats really helpful

Regards
Megha

The system of patent-granting, which confers temporary monopolies for

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