2010年考研英语一阅读 Text 2 原文翻译及答案解析
本页收录2010年考研英语一阅读理解 Part A 第 2 篇的原文、全文翻译与逐题解析。Part A 共 4 篇、20 题、40 分，是考研英语分值最高的部分，题型以细节题、推断题、主旨题与词义题为主。
Over the past decade, thousands of patents have been granted for what are called business methods. Amazon.com received one for its "one-click" online payment system. Merrill Lynch got legal protection for an asset allocation strategy. One inventor patented a technique for lifting a box.
在过去十年中，数千项专利被授予所谓的商业方法。亚马逊网站为其“一键”在线支付系统获得了一项专利。美林证券获得了资产配置策略的法律保护。一位发明家为一种提箱技术申请了专利。
Now 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. In 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. In re Bilski, as the case is known, is "a very big deal," says Dennis D. Crouch of the University of Missouri School of Law. It "has the potential to eliminate an entire class of patents."
如今，美国最高专利法院似乎完全准备好缩减商业方法专利的规模，这些专利自十年前首次被授权以来一直备受争议。在一项让知识产权律师议论纷纷的举措中，美国联邦巡回上诉法院表示，将利用一个特定案件对商业方法专利进行广泛审查。密苏里大学法学院的丹尼斯·D·克劳奇称，这个被称为“比尔斯基案”的案件“意义重大”。它“有可能消除一整类专利”。
Curbs 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. That 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. Later, 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. In 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. Similarly, some Wall Street investment firms armed themselves with patents for financial products, even as they took positions in court cases opposing the practice.
对商业方法专利申请的限制将是一个戏剧性的转变，因为正是联邦巡回法院本身在1998年所谓的“道富银行”案判决中引入了此类专利，批准了一项汇集共同基金资产的方法专利。该裁决导致商业方法专利申请激增，最初是新兴的互联网公司试图为特定类型的在线交易争取独占权。后来，更多成熟的公司竞相将此类专利加入其档案，哪怕只是为了防御可能抢占先机的竞争对手。2005年，IBM在一份法庭文件中指出，它已获得超过300项商业方法专利，尽管它质疑授予这些专利的法律依据。同样，一些华尔街投资公司用金融产品专利武装自己，即使它们在法庭案件中反对这种做法。
The Bilski case involves a claimed patent on a method for hedging risk in the energy market. The 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.
比尔斯基案涉及一项在能源市场对冲风险方法的专利申请。联邦巡回法院发布了一项不寻常的命令，声明该案将由法院的全部12名法官审理，而不是通常的三人小组，并且法院希望评估的一个问题是是否应该“重新考虑”其道富银行案的裁决。
The 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. Last April, for example, the justices signaled that too many patents were being upheld for "inventions" that are obvious. The 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.
联邦巡回法院的行动是在最高法院最近一系列缩小专利持有人保护范围的判决之后采取的。例如，去年四月，法官们暗示，有太多针对明显“发明”的专利得到维护。联邦巡回法院的法官们“正在对最高法院的反专利趋势作出反应”，乔治华盛顿大学法学院的专利律师兼教授哈罗德·C·韦格纳说。