Although some historians trace the origin of British trademark law to

Question

Although some historians trace the origin of British trademark law to Roman times, the medieval guilds, or the sixteenth-century legal case of J. G. Samford, nothing like the modern notion of trademark law took shape until the latter half of the nineteenth century. In fact, we can probably say that, as of 1850 in the United Kingdom (UK), it made no sense to talk of “a law of trademarks” as such.

To say there was no “law of trademarks” does not mean that there were no laws regulating misrepresentation in trade. However, the protection afforded to traders who found themselves victims of the fraudulent imitation of their marks was scattered across different sources (trade-specific statutes or maverick judicial decisions) and lacked any unifying logic.

By 1850, the complex state of the body of these laws was a real cause of inconvenience and expense to traders who wished to gain protection in the UK for their trademarks. Moreover, it was an obstacle to the development of international agreements that would help garner protection for British traders’ marks abroad. And there certainly was a sense that British traders needed protection abroad, as the markets for their goods in the UK, the British colonies, and elsewhere were being penetrated by counterfeit goods.
   1 
1. Which of the following factors is NOT mentioned in the passage as having helped motivate the development of modern British trademark law?
A. The expense of gaining protection against fraudulent imitation in the UK
B. A general trend in the British legal system toward searching for a unifying logic in similar statutes from different sources
C. An influx of counterfeit goods into markets outside of the UK
D. The inconvenience traders experienced due to the complexity of trademark protections in the UK
E. The difficulty of developing agreements to protect against fraudulent imitation of British traders’ marks abroad

2 
2. Which of the following statements, if true, most strongly supports the author’s claims regarding the state of trade and trade law in the UK prior to 1850?
A. In the UK prior to 1850, consumers paid little attention to traders’ marks in choosing which goods to buy.
B. Prior to 1850, British traders were responsible for the largest proportion of goods sold to the British colonies.
C. In the UK prior to 1850, cutlery makers, clothiers, and artists each developed separate regulations regarding fraudulent imitation in their respective fields.
D. Prior to 1850, the UK adopted its first comprehensive law setting minimum quality standards for various products.
E. Prior to 1850, British traders were usually unaware when someone used their marks fraudulently.

3 
3. According to the passage, which of the following statements about trade in the UK prior to 1850 is correct?
A. Laws regulating misrepresentation in trade came from a variety of disparate sources.
B. Most traders used guild-specific marks as identifiers on their goods.
C. Imitating other traders’ marks was not the most common type of fraud committed by unscrupulous traders.
D. Using the existent laws regulating misrepresentation in trade, a trader could seldom gain protection against fraudulent use of a mark.
E. Misrepresentation in trade primarily affected traders working in the British colonies.

MartyMurray · Accepted Answer

Explanation for Question 3

3. According to the passage, which of the following statements about trade in the UK prior to 1850 is correct?

The entire passage is about "trade in the UK prior to 1850." So, to answer this question, we'll likely have to find in various areas of the passage information relevant to considering the choices.

A. Laws regulating misrepresentation in trade came from a variety of disparate sources.

This choice appears to be another way of saying what the second paragraph says:

To say there was no “law of trademarks” does not mean that there were no  laws regulating misrepresentation in trade . However,  the protection afforded to traders  who found themselves victims of the fraudulent imitation of their marks  was scattered across different sources

"The protection afforded to traders" is presumably "laws regulating misrepresentation in trade." So, the passage indicates that such laws were "scattered across different sources."

Keep.

B. Most traders used guild-specific marks as identifiers on their goods.

Regarding "guild-specific marks," the passage says nothing. It just briefly mentions "guilds" in the first paragraph.

Eliminate.

C. Imitating other traders’ marks was not the most common type of fraud committed by unscrupulous traders.

The passage does not compare how "common"  different types of fraud were.

Eliminate.

D. Using the existent laws regulating misrepresentation in trade, a trader could seldom gain protection against fraudulent use of a mark.

This choice is tricky because the passage does indicate that the system of trademark laws didn't work very well. So, we could get the impression that  this choice is correct.

At the same time, what we need to notice is that the passage never says that traders "could seldom gain protection" using the laws. What it says, in the second paragraph, is that the laws were "scattered across different sources (trade-specific statutes or maverick judicial decisions) and lacked any unifying logic," and, in the third paragraph, it mentions "inconvenience" and "expense" associated with using the laws.

Simply put, the problem with the laws mentioned by the passage isn't that they "seldom" provided protection. It's that they were were difficult to use.

Eliminate.

E. Misrepresentation in trade primarily affected traders working in the British colonies.

Regarding "the British Colonies," the passage says the following:

there certainly was a sense that British traders needed protection abroad, as the markets for their goods in the UK, the British colonies, and elsewhere were being penetrated by counterfeit goods

The fact that "British traders needed protection abroad" does not mean that misrepresentation in trade "primarily" affected traders working in the British colonies. I means only that it did affect them there.

In fact, the above sentence from the passage mentions not only "Britsh colonies" but also "the UK," and "elsewhere." So, the passage indicates that misrepresentation in trade was an issue in multiple places, rather than "primarily ... in the British colonies."

Eliminate.

Correct answer:  A

DerekLin · Answer

@MartyMurray Could you explain this

MartyMurray · Answer

Explanation for Question 1

1. Which of the following factors is NOT mentioned in the passage as having helped motivate the development of modern British trademark law?

The passage does not directly say that anything "helped motivate the development of modern British trademark law."

At the same time, the passage does mention in the third paragraph problems that existed because British trademark law had not been developed. So, we can presume that those problems are the "factors" "mentioned in the passage as having helped motivate the development of modern British trademark law."

Thus, to answer this question, we can simply compare each choice with what the passage mentions in the third paragraph, and possibly in other paragraphs, eliminate each choice that matches something mentioned in the passage, and select the one that does not match anything mentioned in the passage.

A. The expense of gaining protection against fraudulent imitation in the UK

In the third paragraph, we see the following:

the complex state of the body of these laws was a real cause of inconvenience and  expense  to traders

Looking above to see what "these laws" refers to, we see in the second paragraph the following:

the protection afforded to  traders who found themselves victims of the fraudulent imitation  of their marks was scattered across different sources (trade-specific statutes or maverick judicial decisions)

We see that the second paragraph discusses "traders who found themselves victims of the fraudulent imitation" being protected by a complex set of laws and that the third paragraph then goes on to say that "the complex state of the body of these laws was a real cause of inconvenience and expense to traders."

Thus, the combination of the information in the the second and third paragraphs communicates that there was a problem with "The expense of gaining protection against fraudulent imitation in the UK."

So, this choice is mentioned in the passage.

Eliminate.

B. A general trend in the British legal system toward searching for a unifying logic in similar statutes from different sources

In the second paragraph, we do see "lacked any  unifying logic " in the last sentence.

However, the passage does not mention "A general trend in the British legal system toward searching for a unifying logic."

So, this choice is not mentioned in the passage.

Keep.

C. An influx of counterfeit goods into markets outside of the UK

Scanning the third paragraph for "counterfeit goods," we find the following:

And there certainly was a sense that British traders needed protection abroad, as the  markets for their goods in the UK, the British colonies, and elsewhere were being penetrated by counterfeit goods .

We see that the passage indicates that a motivation for development for British trademark law was that markets "being penetrated by counterfeit goods."

So, this choice is mentioned in the passage.

Eliminate.

D. The inconvenience traders experienced due to the complexity of trademark protections in the UK

The first sentence of the third paragraph says the following:

By 1850, the complex state of the body of these laws was a real cause of  inconvenience  and expense to traders

Looking above to see what "these laws" refers to, we see that the second paragraph says the following:

the  protection afforded to traders  who found themselves victims of the fraudulent imitation of their marks  was scattered across different sources (trade-specific statutes or maverick judicial decisions)

Thus, the "complex state of the body of these laws" was essentially "the complexity of trademark protections."

So, this choice matches what the passage mentions.

Eliminate.

E. The difficulty of developing agreements to protect against fraudulent imitation of British traders’ marks abroad

The third paragraph says the following regarding the complex and undeveloped state of British trademark law:

it was an obstacle to the development of international agreements that would help garner protection for British traders’ marks abroad

So, this choice is mentioned in the passage.

Eliminate.

Correct answer:  B

MartyMurray · Answer

Explanation for Question 2

2. Which of the following statements, if true, most strongly supports the author’s claims regarding the state of trade and trade law in the UK prior to 1850?

To determine which choice "most strongly supports the author’s claims regarding the state of trade and trade law in the UK prior to 1850," we must understand what that claim is.

We see the following in the second paragraph:

To say there was no “law of trademarks” does not mean that there were no laws regulating misrepresentation in trade. However, the protection afforded to traders who found themselves victims of the fraudulent imitation of their marks was scattered across different sources (trade-specific statutes or maverick judicial decisions) and lacked any unifying logic.

So, the correct answer will support the claim that, basically, "laws regulating misrepresentation in trade" or providing protection against "fraudulent imitation" were a complex mess.

A. In the UK prior to 1850, consumers paid little attention to traders’ marks in choosing which goods to buy.

This statement about what consumers paid attention to does not mean that the laws were a complex mess.

Eliminate.

B. Prior to 1850, British traders were responsible for the largest proportion of goods sold to the British colonies.

This statement about the proportion of goods sold by British traders does not mean that the laws were a complex mess.

Eliminate.

C. In the UK prior to 1850, cutlery makers, clothiers, and artists each developed separate regulations regarding fraudulent imitation in their respective fields.

The fact that each of these groups had separate regulations regarding fraudulent imitation is an example of laws regulating fraudulent imitation being a complex mess.

So, this choice provides support for the author's claim.

Keep.

D. Prior to 1850, the UK adopted its first comprehensive law setting minimum quality standards for various products.

The fact that, prior to 1850, the UK had a comprehensive law setting mininum quality standards does not seem to support or conflict with the author's claim since the author's claim is about laws "regulating misrepresentation in trade" and those against "fraudulent imitation," rather than those "setting ... quality standards."

At the same time, in case we aren't 100 percent sure that "laws setting ... quality standards" are not somehow related to the author's claim about "the state of trade," we can eliminate this choice anyway by noticing the following. The fact that there was a "comprehensive law" would conflict with, rather than support, the claim that the state of trade and trade law was a complex mess.

Eliminate.

E. Prior to 1850, British traders were usually unaware when someone used their marks fraudulently.

This fact about what traders were aware of does not indicate that the trade laws were a complex mess.

Eliminate.

Correct answer:  C

kabirgandhi · Answer

Hi  MartyMurray ,

Thank you for the explanation!

Just one question from my side: How did you identify the exact claim we had to strengthen?

The passage does not really explicitly say  pre-1850,  even though the state of affairs existing in and before 1850 is implied in multiple passages.

I could not determine what the exact claim that the author wanted us to strengthen here was - since information about that is given in multiple places in the passage.

For eg, claim 1: Trademark laws did not take shape until the 1850's / did not exist pre-1850\
claim 2:  To say there was no “law of trademarks” does not mean that there were no laws regulating misrepresentation in trade. 
 claim 3: By 1850, the complex state of the body of these laws was a real cause of inconvenience and expense to traders who wished to gain protection in the UK for their trademarks.

Although some historians trace the origin of British trademark law to

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Although some historians trace the origin of British trademark law to

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