The system of patent-
granting, which confers
temporary monopolies for
Line the exploitation of new tech-
(5) nologies, was originally
established as an incentive
to the pursuit of risky new
ideas. Yet studies of the
most patent-conscious
(10) business of all—the semi-
conductor industry—suggest
that firms do not necessarily
become more innovative as
they increase their patenting
(15) activity. Ziedonis and Hall,
for example, found that
investment in research and
development (a reasonable
proxy for innovation) did
(20) not substantially increase
between 1982 and 1992,
the industry’s most feverish
period of patenting. Instead,
semiconductor firms simply
(25) squeezed more patents out
of existing research and
development expenditures.
Moreover, Ziedonis and
Hall found that as patenting
(30) activity at semiconductor
firms increased in the
1980’s, the consensus
among industry employees
was that the average quality
(35) of their firms’ patents
declined. Though patent
quality is a difficult notion
to measure, the number of
times a patent is cited in
(40) the technical literature is
a reasonable yardstick, and
citations per semiconductor
patent did decline during
the 1980’s. This decline in
(45) quality may be related to
changes in the way semi-
conductor firms managed
their patenting process:
rather than patenting to win
(50) exclusive rights to a valuable
new technology, patents
were filed more for strategic
purposes, to be used as
bargaining chips to ward
(55) off infringement suites or
as a means to block
competitors’ products.
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
答案有Ａ和Ｃ两个版本，请ＮＮ指点一下．．．到底哪个，为什么呢？我选的是Ｂ．．．５５５５５５ | 
