PrepTest 143, Section 1, Question 10
Copyright statutes benefit society by providing incentive to(66 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(11 more words not shown)
- AA statute should(16 more words not shown)
- BA statute should(15 more words not shown)
- CA statute that(10 more words not shown)
- DA statute should(14 more words not shown)
- EIf a statute(23 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Should copyright duration be decided by a cost-benefit calculation?
The author gives us a tradeoff. Protection encourages people to create original work, which benefits society. But the protected control over that work also has a cost. The author accepts some protection and objects to the extra decades after an author's death, because the additional costs outweigh the additional benefits.
That is a reason to shorten the term if social benefits and costs are the deciding standard. But someone could instead place greater weight on an author's property rights, even when protecting those rights imposes costs on others. Merely identifying the tradeoff doesn't establish which principle should settle it.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for a principle supporting the author's reasoning. We need a rule making a favorable balance of social benefits over social costs a condition for justifying the protection. That would explain why the extra years are too much without abandoning copyright altogether.
Working the answers
- A
The author doesn't say the statute has inconsistent aims or even appears to. A statute could consistently pursue protection for creators while imposing costs that outweigh its benefits. A doesn't establish the cost-benefit standard behind this objection.
- B
Repealing a statute is different from shortening its protection. The argument still accepts the incentive to create as a justification for some copyright. It objects to the additional years, not to a disappearance of the original reason for having any protection at all.
- C
There is no inference from one country's justification to another's. Mentioning that many countries use long terms doesn't make universal applicability the missing principle. We need a rule about the balance of benefits and costs.
- D
This introduces a comparison between different rights. The author hasn't shown that one right is enhanced when another is limited; the stated comparison is between social benefits and social costs. A rights-based standard could be a different way to approach the question, but it doesn't supply this argument's standard.
- ECorrect
When a statute is justified by its benefit to society, its design should keep the benefit greater than the cost. The extra years described in the passage fail that test: their added cost outweighs their added benefit. E therefore supports the criticism of the duration while leaving room for the shorter protection the author accepts.
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