#3 - Passage Exclusivity, Weaken

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (C)

This is a difficult question. As support for the criticism raised by the author, two countries are mentioned that grant copyright exceptions to educational institutions. Answer choice (C) weakens the argument by showing that educational institutions are already given favorable treatment in many foreign countries, meaning that the “exceptions” granted are not in any way unique. In addition, because deep discounts are already granted, there is little loss of profit in these countries; literally, one could argue that the copyright exceptions make very little difference as the educational institutions are already paying minor amounts from a relative standpoint.

This answer choice does not destroy the criticism in the passage, but it does undermine it.

[nusheenaparvizi]

I had a question on this problem- why doesn't answer choice D most weaken the author's attitude toward the IIPA report? I understand why choice C is correct in that they are already being given favorable treatment so these copyright exceptions make little difference... but in my mind D seems like the stronger weaker answer choice because while the author is saying that the IIPA wrongly criticizes these effort to support education, D says that the citizens do not support these initiatives so it would weaken the authors claim that the criticism against education and cultural initiatives is bad.

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Nusheena,

Great question (on what is a very difficult question overall)!

The problem with answer choice D is that, on the LSAT, you should not assume that popular opinion (what the general public thinks or supports) is necessarily correct. So, we cannot know with certainty whether the lack of citizen support means the initiatives are bad. After all, maybe the citizens are wrong, and they should be supporting the initiatives. That's enough to rule out the answer!

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[crispycrispr]

Hi,

I'm not sure I understand the explanation. The question asks for what would most weaken the implied criticism of the author towards the IIPA. When I read the passage, I thought the author's criticism is that educational institutions deserve copyright exceptions, and the IIPA errs in criticizing the countries for granting exceptions because they're educational institutions. So how does the fact that educational institutions get discounts undermine the author's criticism?

[marilati]

I have the same question as crisprcrispr. Answer C, to me, strengthens the argument the author is making. The author says the countries shouldn’t be criticized for giving exceptions to educational institutions. C says many countries already give deep discounts to educational institutions.

The explanation above says “there is little loss of profit in these countries; literally, one could argue that the copyright exceptions make very little difference as the educational institutions are already paying minor amounts from a relative standpoint.” Doesn’t that strengthen the author’s criticism towards IIPA?

Please help me understand what I’m missing here. Thank you.

[Bob O'Halloran]

Hi Marilati and Crisprcrispr,
Thank you for your question. As noted above this is a difficult question. It's basically asking us to weaken the author's criticism of the criticism in the report.
Answer choice (C) does this by saying that the educational institutions don't need copyright exceptions because they already get steep discounts.
The report writers could counter the author by saying "You criticized us for saying the the institutions shouldn't get exemptions, but they already get deep discounts so why should they also get exemptions?"
I hope this helps and let us know if you have other questions.
Bob

[emilyjmyer]

Hi!

I have a question about #3. I got it wrong because I chose answer choice C. I kind of see why that is wrong, but I want to make sure I understand why B is correct. Could someone please tell me if this explanation makes sense?

Lines 22-27 in passage A say that the IIPA says that efforts to support national educational and cultural initiatives are not good. Copyright exceptions for these things are criticized by the IIPA. So these lines argue that IIPA says copyright exceptions for national educational and cultural initiatives are not good according to the IIPA. Answer choice C weakens this because if the US gives educational institutions in foreign countries discounts when purchasing copyright material then there is no reason for the IIPA to criticize them?

Thanks!

[Stephanie Oswalt]

Hi!

I have a question about #3. I got it wrong because I chose answer choice C. I kind of see why that is wrong, but I want to make sure I understand why B is correct. Could someone please tell me if this explanation makes sense?

Lines 22-27 in passage A say that the IIPA says that efforts to support national educational and cultural initiatives are not good. Copyright exceptions for these things are criticized by the IIPA. So these lines argue that IIPA says copyright exceptions for national educational and cultural initiatives are not good according to the IIPA. Answer choice C weakens this because if the US gives educational institutions in foreign countries discounts when purchasing copyright material then there is no reason for the IIPA to criticize them?

Thanks!

Hi Emily,

Thanks for your post! I have moved your question to the thread discussing #3. Please note that answer choice (C) is the correct answer for #3. If you meant to ask about a different question, please let us know !
Thanks!

[emilyjmyer]

Hi!

I have a question about #3. I got it wrong because I chose answer choice C. I kind of see why that is wrong, but I want to make sure I understand why B is correct. Could someone please tell me if this explanation makes sense?

Lines 22-27 in passage A say that the IIPA says that efforts to support national educational and cultural initiatives are not good. Copyright exceptions for these things are criticized by the IIPA. So these lines argue that IIPA says copyright exceptions for national educational and cultural initiatives are not good according to the IIPA. Answer choice C weakens this because if the US gives educational institutions in foreign countries discounts when purchasing copyright material then there is no reason for the IIPA to criticize them?

Thanks!

Hi Emily,

Thanks for your post! I have moved your question to the thread discussing #3. Please note that answer choice (C) is the correct answer for #3. If you meant to ask about a different question, please let us know !
Thanks!

Thanks Stephanie! I mistyped my bad.

I chose answer choice D and I see why that is wrong. It is just kind of out of the scope of the question and we have no way of proving that right? But why is C correct?

Lines 22-27 in passage A say that the IIPA says that efforts to support national educational and cultural initiatives are not good. Copyright exceptions for these things are criticized by the IIPA. So these lines argue that IIPA says copyright exceptions for national educational and cultural initiatives are not good according to the IIPA. Answer choice C weakens this because if the US gives educational institutions in foreign countries discounts when purchasing copyright material then there is no reason for the IIPA to criticize them? Is that why C is correct?

Thank you!

[Adam Tyson]

That's a really hard question, Emily, and it involves something like a triple negative. We need an answer that weakens the claim that is was wrong to criticize those countries for giving copyright exceptions to educational institutions, so we need something that says it is actually OKAY to criticize them for doing that. In other words, the right answer will indicate that those countries should NOT be giving copyright exceptions to schools.

Answer C gives us that by saying that schools are already getting a big discount. It's like publishers were telling schools they could buy copies of copyrighted books for a a nickel per copy, and instead of paying a nickel per copy their governments just said "go ahead and make all the photocopies you want without paying the publisher anything." Come on man, just give us the darn nickel, would you? The discount should have been good enough, so giving an exception just isn't called for.