Copyright was originally the grant of a temporary government-supported

Question

Copyright was originally the grant of a temporary government-supported monopoly on copying a work. Its sole purpose was to encourage the circulation of ideas by giving authors the opportunity to derive a reasonable financial reward from their works. However, copyright sometimes goes beyond its original purpose since sometimes _______.

The conclusion of the argument is most strongly supported if which one of the following completes the passage?

(A) publication of copyrighted works is not the only way to circulate ideas

(B) authors are willing to circulate their works even without any financial reward

(C) authors are unable to find a publisher for their copyrighted work

(D) there is no practical way to enforce copyrights

(E) copyrights hold for many years after an author’s death

sharathnair14 · Answer

A bit about copyrights first. The first sentence talks about  how copyrights originated.  
The second Sentence gives  more information about copyrights. Their single significant purpose is to promote the circulation of ideas. And how did copyrights go about doing this? Authors are given financial rewards for ideas circulated.

Conclusion - The Copyrights sometimes go beyond their purpose, i.e they might be doing more than what's required.     Keep an eye on the purpose part. We're looking for something that happens AFTER a Copyright is granted.

How? The right answer among the choices will present a proper reason.

(A) publication of copyrighted works is not the only way to circulate ideas.   Out  .  Not concerned with how ideas are circulated. Need to know why the copyright plan isn't performing the way it's supposed to.

(B) authors are willing to circulate their works even without any financial reward.    Out  .     Talks about a situation where authors don't need a financial benefit to write and ciruclate ideas. We're not concerned about that. Moreover, this is a situation before copyright is granted.

(C) authors are unable to find a publisher for their copyrighted work.    Out  .  A problem that the authors face? hmm. Not what we're looking for.

(D) there is no practical way to enforce copyrights.    Out  .  Sure, this might be a problem, but this is about a situation that comes before copyrights.

(E) copyrights hold for many years after an author’s death.   Correct  .      This information supports the idea that copyright goes beyond providing an opportunity for an author to derive a financial reward for his own work (“after an author’s death”).

arvind910619 · Answer

I am not so sure of B. If the author does not want copy right then he is free to do so. He is free to share his work for free.

What do you think of E being an answer.

sharathnair14 · Answer

Hey there! arvind910619
Thanks for the quote. I was stuck between B and E.

Here's how I thought about the question.

Hmm.. What could make the copyright go beyond its purpose? And that naturally led me to think of something that would be related to the circulation of ideas (And that indeed is the purpose here). And B seems to show that a copyright wouldn't be necessary when the authors themselves are willing to circulate ideas for free. So would giving these authors copyrights help them share better/ or share their ideas more frequently? I didn't really think so.

While E seemed as though it didn't really stop the copyright from doing what it really intended, i.e, help the authors share their ideas. For an author, he/she can write books/journals/etc. and have these circulated, even long after they're dead. Thinking on these lines caused me to cross this one out.

Now that I look at it, I guess I might have to reconsider.

B seems to really incline towards explaining whether copyright is necessary in the first place. And that is different from "serving a purpose".

E does the job of saying that on occasion of an author's death, still trying to provide copyrights would be pointless as the author wouldn't be alive to create and circulate more ideas.

OA is E.
You can find more explanations here - https://forum.powerscore.com/lsat/viewtopic.php?t=12929

arvind910619 · Answer

Thanks for such an elaborate answer. 
Honestly i was also stuck between B and E. I took a lot of time to arrive at the answer. What you have said in your post is 100 percent correct. E is the answer after going though the link that you had shared.
Overall a good question to practice

sharathnair14 · Answer

No worries. Yep. The LSAT CR's never fail to amuse. Definitely a 700+ type Question.

rashminuligonda · Answer

hello, isnt the purpose " circulation of ideas by do doing some thing"

so if copyrights in itself arent enforeced. wont work be misused and go beyond purpose?

guddo · Answer

Copyright was originally the grant of a temporary government-supported monopoly on copying a work. Its sole purpose was to encourage the circulation of ideas by giving authors the opportunity to derive a reasonable financial reward from their works. However, copyright sometimes goes beyond its original purpose since sometimes _______. 
 
The conclusion of the argument is most strongly supported if which one of the following completes the passage?

The original purpose of copyright was temporary protection that helped authors earn money and thereby encouraged ideas to circulate.  To show that copyright sometimes goes beyond that purpose , the missing statement should show copyright lasting longer than needed to reward the author or encourage the author’s work.

(A) publication of copyrighted works is not the only way to circulate ideas

This does not show that copyright goes beyond its original purpose. Even if ideas can circulate in other ways, copyright may still help circulate works.

(B) authors are willing to circulate their works even without any financial reward

This weakens the need for copyright, but it does not show that copyright sometimes extends beyond its original purpose.

(C) authors are unable to find a publisher for their copyrighted work

This shows copyright may sometimes fail to achieve its purpose, not that it goes beyond its purpose.

(D) there is no practical way to enforce copyrights

This also suggests copyright may fail to work, not that it exceeds its original purpose.

(E) copyrights hold for many years after an author’s death

This is correct. If copyright continues long after the author has died, then it is no longer giving that author a financial reward to encourage that author to circulate ideas. That shows copyright can extend beyond its original  temporary author-reward purpose .

Answer: (E)

egmat · Answer

Hi rashminuligonda,

I see exactly where this is snagging you, and it's a smart question. You're reacting to the reasoning in the thread that crossed off  (D) , and your instinct is: "if copyrights aren't enforced, the work gets misused, so isn't that a problem that pushes copyright past its purpose?"

Here's the key: look at the exact words of the conclusion - copyright  "goes beyond its original purpose."  That means copyright does  more  than it was meant to do - it  overreaches . It does  not  mean copyright  fails  or  falls short .

Now map  (D)  onto that:

(D)  says there is "no practical way to enforce copyrights." That describes copyright  not working  - being ineffective at the job it was given. That's the opposite of overreaching. A tool that can't be enforced is doing  less  than intended, not  more .

Compare that to why  (E)  fits. The stated purpose is to give  authors  a chance at a "reasonable financial reward from their works." Once copyrights "hold for many years after an author's death," the monopoly keeps running when there is no living author left to reward. So it keeps doing something  past  the point its purpose called for - that's the "beyond" the conclusion needs.

Turn one knob to feel the difference:

- If the blank had to explain copyright  failing  - then  (D) , "can't be enforced," would fit perfectly.
- But the sentence says copyright  goes beyond  - so you need a case of  too much , and only  (E)  gives that.

So the trap in  (D)  isn't that it's false - misuse from weak enforcement is a real worry. It's simply  the wrong direction : it's an under-performance problem, and the conclusion is asking for an over-performance one.

Answer: E

Copyright was originally the grant of a temporary government-supported

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