【段1】①Over the past decade, thousands of patents have been granted for what are called business methods. ②Amazon.com received one for its “one-click” online payment system. ③Merrill Lynch got legal protection for an asset allocation strategy. ④One inventor patented a technique for lifting a box.
【段2】①Now the nation’s top patent court appears completely ready to scale back on business-method patents, which have been controversial ever since they were first authorized 10 years ago. ②In a move that has intellectual-property lawyers abuzz, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said it would use a particular case to conduct a broad review of business-method patents. ③In re Bilski , as the case is known, is“ a very big deal,” says Dennis D. Crouch of the University of Missouri School of Law. ④It“has the potential to eliminate an entire class of patents.”
【段3】①Curbs on business-method claims would be a dramatic about-face, because it was the Federal Circuit itself that introduced such patents with its 1998 decision in the so-called State Street Bank case, approving a patent on a way of pooling mutual-fund assets. ②That ruling produced an explosion in business-method patent filings, initially by emerging Internet companies trying to stake out exclusive rights to specific types of online transactions. ③Later, more established companies raced to add such patents to their files, if only as a defensive move against rivals that might beat them to the punch. ④In 2005, IBM noted in a court filing that it had been issued more than 300 business-method patents, despite the fact that it questioned the legal basis for granting them. ⑤Similarly, some Wall Street investment firms armed themselves with patents for financial products, even as they took positions in court cases opposing the practice.
【段4】①The Bilski case involves a claimed patent on a method for hedging risk in the energy market. ②The Federal Circuit issued an unusual order stating that the case would be heard by all 12 of the court’s judges, rather than a typical panel of three, and that one issue it wants to evaluate is whether it should “reconsider” its State Street Bank ruling.
【段5】①The Federal Circuit’s action comes in the wake of a series of recent decisions by the Supreme Court that has narrowed the scope of protections for patent holders. ②Last April, for example, the justices signaled that too many patents were being upheld for “inventions” that are obvious. ③The judges on the Federal Circuit are “reacting to the anti-patent trend at the Supreme Court,” says Harold C. Wegner, a patent attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
Which of the following would be the subject of the text?
[A]A looming threat to business-method patents.
[B]Protection for business-method patent holders.
[C]A legal case regarding business-method patents.
[D]A prevailing trend against business-method patents.
答案：A
问：以下哪项与本文的主题无关？
A : 商业方法专利如今受到广泛支持
B : 商业方法专利面临潜在法律威胁
C : 存在反对商业方法专利的趋势
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