Remember Napster or Grokster? Both services allowed users to share computer files—usually digital music—that infringed the copyr

admin2019-08-08  59

问题    Remember Napster or Grokster? Both services allowed users to share computer files—usually digital music—that infringed the copyrights for those songs. Now imagine that, instead of music, you could download a physical object. Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie—push a button and there’s the item! But that scenario is already becoming a reality with the help of 3D printers. 【F1】We can download a computer file, called a computer-aided design (CAP) file, that instructs the printer to make a physical, three-dimensional object.
   Because CAD files are digital, they can be shared across the internet on file-sharing services, just like movies and music. Just as digital media challenged the copyright system with rampant copyright infringement, the patent system likely will encounter widespread infringement of patented inventions through 3D printing. 【F2】The problem is, however, that the patent system is even more ill-equipped to deal with this situation than copyright law was, posing a challenge to a key component of our innovation system.
   Patents are actual documents issued by the federal government. They’re awarded for inventions that are nontrivial advances in the state of the art. A patent allows the owner to prevent others from making, using, selling or importing the invention. 【F3】These exclusive rights help keep competitors out of the market, allowing the patent owner to recover R&D costs. The owner also can use the patent to support efforts to commercialize the invention.
   Each printed copy of an invention is a lost potential sale to the patent holder. Alternatively, patent owners could go after the people facilitating the infringement. The Patent Act permits a patent holder to sue parties who induce others to infringe. 【F4】Potential inducers of patent infringement here could be the sellers of the 3D printers, someone providing CAD files of the patented device, or websites that sell or share various CAD files that instruct the 3D printer to make the patented invention. Copyright law similarly prohibits inducement of infringement. The same idea could apply in the patent context.
   But there is a huge problem with this approach: inducement of patent infringement requires actual knowledge of the relevant patent. For music, everyone knows the songs are copyrighted. Not everyone is aware that a particular device is covered by a patent. There are hundreds of thousands of patents in existence. 【F5】It’s highly unlikely that potential inducers would have actual knowledge of every patent that could be infringed by use of a 3D printer.
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答案潜在的专利侵权诱导者包括3D打印机的销售者、已获专利权设备的CAD文件提供者,或是销售或分享各种CAD文件的网站,这些文件能指示3D打印机打印发明专利。

解析 ①此句的表语部分较长,当中有介词短语、现在分词短语和定语从句作后置定语,分别修饰the sellers、someone和websites。②句子有三个并列表语,分别是the sellers、someone和websites。现在分词短语providing…patented device作someone的后置定语,当中of the patented device亦是CAD files的后置定语,表示“已获专利权设备的CAD文件提供者”。③that sell or share various CAD files是修饰websites的定语从句,说明这些是销售或分享各种CAD文件的网站;第二个that…到句末是另一个定语从句,修饰先行词CAD files,说明这些CAD文件的功能,即这些CAD文件能指示3D打印机打印发明专利。
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