PrepTest 149, Section 2, Question 19
Passage A Comedians are not amused when their(497 more words not shown)
Passage A(293 more words not shown)
Passage B(212 more words not shown)
The author of passage A(13 more words not shown)
- AThe social norms(21 more words not shown)
- BComedians should increase(13 more words not shown)
- CMost professional comedians(12 more words not shown)
- DLaw-based intellectual property(11 more words not shown)
- EExisting copyright law(19 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
A's puzzle is economic as well as legal. Creating a routine takes time and effort. If other people could take the result without consequence, the creator might struggle to recover that investment. Conventional intellectual-property thinking predicts less creation under those conditions.
What we’re looking for
The social norms provide an answer. A joke thief can suffer reputational harm and lose opportunities to work with others. That makes taking the material costly and gives the creator a way to protect its value. We should look for a claim that follows from that protection, not a new recommendation about copyright law.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The norms make it possible for comedians to recover the costs of developing material. That connects the second paragraph's concern about recouping costs with the final paragraph's explanation of continued incentives to invest. It does not guarantee that every routine will make money or that every thief will be stopped.
- B
The author explains why comedians rely on norms when copyright enforcement is not cost-effective. There is no recommendation that they bring more lawsuits.
- C
Continuing to create under a protective system does not mean comedians are unconcerned about development costs. A's explanation depends on those costs mattering.
- D
We have an account of stand-up comedy, not a general comparison of legal and informal systems. Social consequences that protect jokes might not protect something such as computer components equally well. A gives us no basis for that broader efficiency claim.
- E
Identifying a limitation of copyright is not an endorsement of this proposed reform. A explains the alternative already operating; it does not recommend changing the law.
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