LSAT 149 | Section 2 | Reading Comprehension: Q16

RC Question 16 Explanation

DISCUSSION: There’s no way to prephrase this, so you should just remember the main themes of each paragraph:

1. Copyright law isn’t cost effective for comedians.
2. So why do they make new jokes?
3. Because they have social norms. These are enforced and work like copyright.

___________

1. This theme isn’t addressed at all. The author only talks about blatant joke stealing. They don’t mention more innocent “joke influencing” at all.
2. CORRECT. The second part of paragraph 1 supports this answer. Legal uncertainty prevents comedians from using copyright law. But it’s strongly implied that if the law were cost effective, then comedians might use it.
3. The author didn’t mention trade secrets. But in the second sentence, they said “copyright is the most relevant body of law”. This implies that they think trade secrets are inappropriate.
    
   Indeed, the key thing about trade secrets is that they are secrets. You don’t announce them publicly. Whereas comedians tell their jokes publicly: they aren’t secrets.
4. This contradicts the final line of passage A. That line says comedians “maintain substantial incentives to invest in new material” (due to social norms)
5. This isn’t the author’s opinion at all! They argue that a formal system (copyright) is not cost-effective for comedians. Meanwhile, the informal social norms are working quite well: the end of paragraph 3 is quite clear on this point.