Critical Reasoning

Journalist: Even though it may be true that the system of patenting encourages patent holders to share information that they otherwise would not have made open because of the fear of competitors benefitting from the research done solely by the patent holder, patenting does severely retard the growth of innovations in a field as _________________________________________________________________________________________
Which of the following, if true, best completes the above passage?

A: Only the patent holder is able to reap the monetary benefits for the amount of time the patent is valid.

B: Not only do patent holders have the exclusive right to the patented technology but also to any kind of developmental research on it.

C: The information disclosed by the patent holder could educate the public by making them aware of previously unknown facts about a phenomenon.

D: The usual period for which a company can hold a patent is twenty years during which patent holder can license the patented innovation to others.

E: Even though not all innovations that are filed for patents are granted the status, some of them are extremely informative and useful for developmental work.

[spoiler]The OA to this question is B. however, the researchers might still continue to produce innovations despite being solely responsible for the development research. How exactly would this option lead to decrease in innovation? Please help.[/spoiler]

gmat_for_life wrote:Journalist: Even though it may be true that the system of patenting encourages patent holders to share information that they otherwise would not have made open because of the fear of competitors benefitting from the research done solely by the patent holder, patenting does severely retard the growth of innovations in a field as _________________________________________________________________________________________
Which of the following, if true, best completes the above passage?

A: Only the patent holder is able to reap the monetary benefits for the amount of time the patent is valid.

B: Not only do patent holders have the exclusive right to the patented technology but also to any kind of developmental research on it.

C: The information disclosed by the patent holder could educate the public by making them aware of previously unknown facts about a phenomenon.

D: The usual period for which a company can hold a patent is twenty years during which patent holder can license the patented innovation to others.

E: Even though not all innovations that are filed for patents are granted the status, some of them are extremely informative and useful for developmental work.

[spoiler]The OA to this question is B. however, the researchers might still continue to produce innovations despite being solely responsible for the development research. How exactly would this option lead to decrease in innovation? Please help.[/spoiler]

It's a question of incentives for competitors. Imagine a world without patents. You develop technology x. I do research about a new way to utilize technology x and develop technology y. In a world with patents, you develop technology x. Now, if you have a patent, you might feel comfortable telling me about technology x, as I can't use it directly, but if I also can't benefit from any developmental research, I'm not going to bother coming up with technology y, as there's no money in it for me. So your patent kills my incentive to develop new technology. (Sure, it's possible that you might develop technology y, but as a general rule, the fewer companies working on developing new technologies, the slower the pace of innovation.)