#16 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[Adeline]

Hi Zach,

Could you explain why B is correct here?

I am having trouble with question 16, the stem goes: The author of passage A would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements? And I am confused about (B) Comedians would be more likely to protect their comedic material through copyright law if they had greater assurance that they could successfully bring infringement lawsuits against perceived perpetrators of joke theft.

My reasoning was: the author of passage A mentioned two reasons for the nonexistence of lawsuits - 1.too expensive 2. difficult and uncertain to succeed. Answer choice B only mentioned greater assurance of the success of infringement lawsuits (the second reason) but did not mention the adjustment to the price. I thought that even if there is a greater assurance of success, the comedians might still not willing to protect their materials through copyright law because the price is too high. Could you point out what's the problem here?

Thank you in advance!

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Adeline!

You're absolutely right when you say that comedians (or at least some comedians) might still not be willing to use copyright law to protect their jokes, even if lawsuits were more certain to succeed! But answer choice B only asserts that a "greater assurance" of success makes it "more likely" comedians would protect their comedic material through copyright law. "More likely" is not a demanding standard: it is (at least possibly) a movement from, say, 1% likelihood to 2% likelihood.

The passage lists all of the reasons you mention (expense, difficulty, and uncertainty) as contributing factors to this overall assessment: that "copyright law simply does not provide comedians with a cost-effective way of protecting their comedic material." Weighing the likelihood of success (the benefit) against the difficulty and uncertainty (the costs), the author thinks the balance is too great on the costs side. When answer choice B introduces a "greater assurance" of success, the scale tilts more in favor of the benefits, and it becomes (at least somewhat) "more likely" that a comedian would be willing to use copyright law to protect their material.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[Adeline]

Hi Jeremy!
Thank you for your explanation. I understand it now!

[cleocleozuo]

Thank you for the explanation. I have a question about answer A though. In a previous explanation, one instructor mentions C is out because it is making a comparison between comedians (intellectually property law) and Chef(trade secrecy law). While I can see that comparisons are being made in C, I don't think answer A is about the comparison? I eliminated A primary because I don't think passage A mentions "comedic material is influenced by the works of their peers". Did I eliminate the answer for the wrong reason?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi cleocleozuo

I would completely agree with you about answer choice (A). There really isn't a comparison aspect to it, but we just don't have enough information from the passage to support it as a must be true answer. The author talks about joke theft, but not really the way in which comedians may influence one another. You are absolutely on the right track here.

Great work!
Rachael