Reading 3 “Conquest by Patents’
Patents are a form of intellectual property rights often touted as a means to give ‘incentive and reward’ to inventors. But they’re also a cause for massive protests by farmers, numerous lawsuits by transnational corporations and indigenous peoples, and countless rallies and declarations by members of civil society. It is impossible to understand why they can have all these effects unless you first recognize that patents are about the control of technology and the protection of competitive advantage.
Lessons from History
In the 1760s, the Englishman Richard Arkwright invented the water-powered spinning frame, a machine destined to bring cotton-spinning out of the home and into the factory. It was an invention which made Britain a world-class power in the manufacture of cloth. To protect its competitive advantage and ensure the market for manufactured cloth in British colonies, Parliament enacted a series of restrictive measures including the prohibition of the export of Arkwright machinery or the emigration of any workers who had worked in factories using it. From 1774 on, those caught sending Arkwright machines or workers abroad from England were subject to fines and 12 years in jail.
In 1790, Samuel Slater, who had worked for years in the Arkwright mills, left England for the New World disguised as a farmer. [A] He thereby enabled the production of commercial-grade cotton cloth in the New World and put the U.S. firmly on the road to the Industrial Revolution and economic independence. [B] Slater was highly rewarded for his achievement. [C] He is still deemed the ‘father of American manufacturing’. [D] To the English, however, he was an intellectual property thief.
Interestingly, patent protection was a part of U.S. law at the time of Slater’s deed. But that protection would only extend to U.S. innovations. It is worth remembering that until the 1970s it was understood, even accepted, that coun¬tries only enforced those patent protections that served their national interest. When the young United States pirated the intellectual property of Europe—and Slater wasn’t the only infringer—people in the U.S. saw the theft as a justifiable response to England’s refusal to transfer its technology.
By the early 1970s, the situation had changed. U.S. industry demanded greater protection for its idea-based products—such as computers and biotechnology—for which it still held the worldwide lead. Together with its like minded industrial allies, the U.S. pushed for the inclusion of intellectual property clauses, including standards for patents, in international trade agreements.
When U.S. business groups explained the ‘need’ for patents and trade-marks in trade agreements, they alleged $40-60 billion losses due to intellec-tual property piracy; they blamed the losses on Third World pirates, they discussed how piracy undermined the incentive to invest; and they claimed that the quality of pirated products was lower than the real thing and was costing lives.
The opposition pointed out that many of the products made in the industrial world, almost all its food crops and a high percentage of its medicines had originated in plant and animal germplasm taken from the developing world. First, knowledge of the material and how to use it was stolen, and later the material itself was taken. For all this, they said, barely a cent of royalties had been paid. Such unacknowledged and uncompensated appropriation they named ‘biopiracy’ and they reasoned that trade agreement patent rules were likely to facilitate more theft of their genetic materials. Their claim that materials ‘col¬lected’ in the developing world were stolen, elicited a counterclaim that these were ‘natural’ or ‘raw’ materials and therefore did not qualify for patents. This in turn induced a counter-explanation that such materials were not ‘raw’ but rather the result of millennia of study, selection, protection, conservation, development and refinement by communities of Majority World and indigenous peoples.
Others pointed out that trade agreements which forced the adoption of unsuitable notions of property and creativity—not to mention an intolerable commercial relationship to nature—were not only insulting but also exceedingly costly. To a developing world whose creations might not qualify for patents and royalties, there was first of all the cost of unrealized profit. Secondly, there was
the cost of added expense for goods from the industrialized world. For most of the people on the planet, the whole patenting process would lead to greater and greater indebtedness; for them, the trade agreements would amount to ‘conquest by patents’—no matter what the purported commercial benefits.
Glossary
intellectual property: an invention or composition that belongs to the person who created it
27. According to paragraph 1, what is the real reason for patents to exist?
A. Protests
B. Lawsuits
C. Prizes
D. Control
28. The word It in the passage refers to
A. factory
B. home
C. cotton-spinning
D. machine
29. Which of the sentences below best expresses the information in the highlighted statement in the passage? The other choices change the meaning or leave out important information.
A. Among the laws to protect Britain from competition in the textile industry was a ban on exporting Arkwright equipment and on emigration of former employees.
B. Former employees of Arkwright could not leave the country because they might provide information about the company to competing factories.
C. The reason that Britain passed laws to prevent emigration was to keep employees in the textile mills from leaving their jobs to work in other countries.
D. Parliament passed laws to ensure that the price of textiles was kept high in spite of competition from the former British colonies who were exporting cloth.
30. In paragraph 3, how does the author explain the concept of technological transfer?
A. By recounting how Samuel Slater, an American farmer, established a successful textile mill in Great Britain
B. By describing how Samuel Slater used workers from Britain to develop the textile industry in the United States
C. By exposing how Samuel Slater stole ideas and technology from one nation to intro¬duce them in another
D. By demonstrating how Samuel Slater used the laws to his advantage in order to trans-fer technology
31. The word innovations in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. discoveries
B. exceptions
C. disputes
D. territories
32. How did the perspective of industrialists in the United States change in the 1970s?
A. They favored free exchange of technology.
B. They supported the protection of patents.
C. They refused to sign international trade agreements.
D. They began to collaborate with Third World nations.
33. How did industrialized nations justify using plants and animals from the developing world for food and medicine products?
A. They claimed that the plant and animal sources were raw materials that could not be patented.
B. They asserted that the original plant and animal materials were found in their own nations.
C. They paid a large royalty for the use of plants and animals that were not original to their countries.
D. They stated that they had manufactured a higher quality of products than the competition.
34. Based on information in paragraph 7, which of the following best explains the term “biopiracy”?
A. A conspiracy by farmers
B. The theft of plants and animals
C. Secret trade agreements
D. Natural resources in the biosphere
35. The word facilitate in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. permit
B. assist
C. require
D. delay
36. The word notions in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. customs
B. records
C. property
D. ideas
37. Why does the author call this article “Conquest by Patents”?
A. Because most trade agreements are unfair to developing nations
B. Because patents cost too much money for developing nations
C. Because industrialized countries do not pay their debts to developing nations
D. Because natural resources are a source of power for developing nations
38. Look at the four squares [■ ] that show where the following sentence could be inserted in the passage.
Arriving in the U.S., he sought financing and recreated from memory an entire Ark¬wright factory and all its equipment.
Where could the sentence best be added?
Click on a square [■] to insert the sentence in the passage.
39. Directions: An introduction for a short summary of the passage appears below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that mention the most important points in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not included in the passage or are minor points from the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
Patents are used to protect the competitive interests of nations and control the ownership of technology.
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Answer Choices
A. The purpose of patents is to protect the originator from competition and control of the technology.
B. In 1790, Samuel Slater, an English citi-zen who smuggled plans for a textile mill into the United States, was considered a thief.
C. Anyone who conspired to send machines or workers at the Arkwright factory over¬seas could suffer fines or even a jail term of 12 years.
D. The United States, along with other industrialized nations, pushed for more protection of intellectual property in trade agreements negotiated in the 1970s.
E. U.S.-based businesses claimed that the infringement of intellectual property rights by pirates cost them $40-60 billion in lost profits.
F. The developing world has opposed trade agreements that favor the industrialized nations and ignore the origin of the plant and animal products used.