#19 - Global Reference, Must Be True

[cherisefay]

I am having a hard time understanding why C is the correct answer. According to the passage, the right to copy an item for profit is a "retained right", not a right that can be transferred. What information in the passage allows one to make the inference that this "retained right" can be transferred?

[Francis O'Rourke]

Hi Cherise,

The author states that after ownership is transferred, the full set of rights is "not necessarily transferred to the new owner" (Lines 18-19) and that "the original owner may retain one or more of these rights." (Line 20)

Notice how the author qualifyies both of these statements. We are not being told that the right to copy a product for profit must be retained, but rather that the original owner is allowed to retain the rights. Later in the second paragraph, we learn that the original owner "typically" retains the right to copy the object for profit.

What this tells us is that there is the possibility of transferring these rights to the new owner, and the possibility of the original owner retaining the rights. Answer choice (C) states that we can infer that "the idea that ownership of the right to copy an item for profit can be transferred" is compatible with the tangible-object theory. Since the author discusses retaining this right as optional in the theory, then both retaining this right and transferring this right are compatible with the theory.

Let me know if this helps!

[vgm789]

Hi,

I'm wondering if someone could please explain why answer choice A is incorrect. I originally thought that this answer was supported by information in paragraph two, but looking back now is this choice wrong because of the phrase "the full complement of rights is not necessarily transferred to the new owner"? As in, they could be but are not definitively transferred?

Thanks!

[Zach Foreman]

hi vgm,
I would say that the main problem in choice A is the first word "most".This is an extremely important word on the LSAT and you need to take it to its literal meaning: "more than half". So, we have to support the assertion that more than half of all transactions involving tangible property at least some rights are retained. The passage simply says that rights "may" be retained and that it is "common". Neither of these are enough to prove that it is happening in the majority of transactions.
It is true that not all rights are necessarily transferred but they could be. And if they are all definitely transferred, then choice A is still wrong because it says that in most cases some rights are retained. It would have to say "the full complement of rights is not transferred to the new owner in most cases."

[lsatquestions]

I had D as a contender. Is it wrong because we know that the theory does not properly account for intangible items, but that doesn't mean that it sufficiently protects tangible items?

[Robert Carroll]

lsatquestions,

As you said, "we know that the theory does not properly account for intangible items". But answer choice (D) says that provisions that apply to ownership of material things do sufficiently protect intellectual property. The author's point was that the tangible-object theory failed to account for the protection due to the intangible elements of intellectual property. So answer choice (D) looks like an opposite answer to me.

Robert Carroll