是时候完善专利了.docx

选段出自《经济学人》中八月八日一篇题目为Time?to?Fix?Patents（《是时候完善专利了》）的文章。原文较长，探讨了现有专利制度的弊端及改革方法。选段截取了文章前几段，主要通过美国农业方面的例子追溯专利制度的推广、带来的结果等，呼吁专利改革刻不容缓。文章观点明晰、条理清楚，生词较多，读者应注意积累体会。【原文】I ①IN 1970 the United States recognised the potential of crop science by broadening the scope of patents in agriculture. ②Patents are supposed to rewardinventiveness, so that should have?galvanised?progress. ③Yet, despite providing extra protection, that change and a further broadening of the?regime?in the 1980s led neither to more private research into wheat nor to an increase in?yields. ④Overall, the productivity of American agriculture continued its gentle upward climb, much as it had before.II ①In other industries, too, stronger patent systems seem not to lead to more innovation. ②That alone would be disappointing, but the evidence suggests something far worse.III ①Patents are supposed to spread knowledge, by obliging holders to lay out their innovation for all to see; they often fail, because patent-lawyers are masters ofobfuscation. ②Instead, the system has created a?parasitic?ecology of?trolls?and defensive patent-holders, who aim to block innovation, or at least to stand in its way unless they can grab a share of the?spoils. ③An early study found that newcomers to the?semiconductor?business had to buy licences from?incumbents?for as much as $200m. ④Patents should?spur?bursts of innovation; instead, they are used to lock in incumbents’ advantages.IV ①The patent system is expensive. ②A decade-old study reckons that in 2005, without the temporary?monopoly?patents?bestow, America might have saved three-quarters of its $210 billion bill for prescription drugs. ③The expense would be worth it if patents brought innovation and prosperity. ④They don’t.V ①Innovation fuels the abundance of modern life. ②From Google’s?algorithms?to a new treatment for?cystic fibrosis, it?underpins?the knowledge in the “knowledge economy”. ③The cost of the innovation that never takes place because of the flawed patent system is?i