Comedians are not amused when their jokes are stolen, and for that

Question

Passage A

Comedians are not amused when their jokes are 
stolen, and for that reason we might expect joke-stealing
disputes to ripen into lawsuits occasionally. Copyright
is the most relevant body of law; formally, it applies to
  (5)   jokes and comedic routines. Yet copyright infringement
lawsuits between rival comedians are all but unheard 
of, despite what appears to be a persistent practice of
joke stealing among stand-up comedians. The
nonexistence of such lawsuits is a product of both practical
  (10)   considerations that render the cost of enforcing
the formal law prohibitively expensive, and legal
hurdles that make success difficult and uncertain in 
lawsuits relating to joke stealing. In the end, copyright
law simply does not provide comedians with a cost-
  (15)   effective way of protecting their comedic material.

Conventional intellectual property wisdom holds
that absent formal legal protection, there would be 
scant production of creative works, as potential
creators would be deterred by the unlikelihood of
  (20)   recouping the cost of their creations. If there is no
effective legal protection against joke theft, then why
do thousands of comedians keep cranking out new 
material night after night?

The answer to this question is that, in stand-up
  (25)   comedy, social norms substitute for intellectual
property law. Taken as a whole, this norms system 
governs a wide array of issues that generally parallel
those ordered by copyright law. These norms are not
merely hortatory. They are enforced with sanctions,
  (30)   including simple badmouthing and refusals to work
with an offending comedian. These sanctions, while 
extralegal, can cause serious reputational harm to an 
alleged joke thief, and may substantially hamper a 
comedian's career. Using this informal system,
  (35)   comedians are able to assert ownership of jokes,
regulate their use and transfer, impose sanctions on 
transgressors, and maintain substantial incentives to
invest in new material.

Passage B

Accomplished chefs consider their recipes to be
  (40)   a very valuable form of intellectual property. At the 
same time, recipes are not a form of innovation that is
effectively covered by current intellectual property 
laws. Recipes are rarely patentable, and combinations 
of ingredients cannot be copyrighted. Legal protections
  (45)   are potentially available via trade secrecy laws, but
chefs very seldom use them. Instead, three implicit
social norms are operative among chefs, and together
these norms function in a manner quite similar to 
law-based intellectual property systems.

(50)   First, a chef must not copy another chef's recipe
innovation exactly. The function of this norm is 
analogous to patenting in that the community 
acknowledges the right of a recipe inventor to exclude 
others from practicing his or her invention, even if all
  (55)   the information required to do so is publicly available. 
A second norm mandates that, if a chef reveals 
recipe-related secret information to a colleague, that 
colleague must not pass the information on to others 
without permission. This norm gives a chef a property

(60)   right similar to that attainable via a contract under
trade secrecy law. A third norm is that colleagues must
credit developers of significant recipes as the authors
of that information. This norm operates in a manner
analogous to copyright protection.    1 
 1. Both passages are primarily concerned with investigating which one of the following topics?

(A) the legal protections available to creators of intellectual property
(B) the connection between the enforcement of social norms and the incentives these norms provide to creators of intellectual property
(C) the extent to which the rights of creators of intellectual property must be balanced against the social value of making that property publicly available
(D) the practical considerations that prompt creators of intellectual property to forgo legal protections of their work
(E) the ways in which social norms can take the place of laws in protecting intellectual property

2 
 2. Passage A, but not passage B, discusses

(A) the relationship of social norms to intellectual property laws
(B) the evolution of social norms
(C) the enforcement of social norms
(D) the limitations of social norms
(E) the impact of social norms on creative output

3 
 3. Which one of the following questions is addressed by passage A but not by passage B with respect to the group of professionals discussed?

(A) How can members of the group share their creative work with colleagues without sacrificing their intellectual property rights?
(B) Why do members of the group usually choose not to make use of the legal protections that are potentially available to them?
(C) To what extent can patent law protect the creative output of members of the group?
(D) What is a form of creative output that members of the group regard as intellectual property?
(E) What social norms prohibit members of the group from violating the intellectual property rights of other members of the group?

4 
 4. The author of passage A would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) Comedians rarely acknowledge the degree to which their own comedic material is influenced by the work of their peers. 
(B) Comedians would be more likely to protect their comedic material through copyright law if they had greater assurance that they could successfully bring infringement lawsuits against perceived perpetrators of joke theft. 
(C) Creative rights to jokes and comedic routines should be protected by trade secrecy law rather than by copyright law. 
(D) The system of social norms operative among comedians is not robust enough to allow comedians to be properly compensated for the expenses they incur when developing new comedic material. 
(E) In the particular context of stand-up comedy. no informal system for protecting intellectual property can be as effective as a formal system.

5 
 5. Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by information given in the passages?

(A) Intellectual property violations are more frequent among comedians than among chefs. 
(B) A more elaborate system of social norms has developed among chefs than among comedians.
(C) Chefs enjoy more significant legal protections of their intellectual property than do comedians. 
(D) Most comedians and chefs are satisfied with current intellectual property laws. 
(E) Comedians and chefs both derive some professional benefit from observing the social norms of their profession.

6 
 6. The relationship described in passage A as holding between comedians and copyright law is most analogous to the relationship described in passage B as holding between chefs and which one of the following?

(A) intellectual property 
(B) patent law 
(C) the combinations of ingredients in a recipe 
(D) trade secrecy 
(E) law social norms

7 
 7. The author of passage A would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) The social norms that are operative among comedians make it possible for individual comedians to recoup the costs associated with developing a comedic routine. 
(B) Comedians should increase their reliance on copyright law as a means of protecting their comedic routines. 
(C) Most professional comedians are largely unconcerned with the expense involved in developing new comedic material. 
(D) Law-based intellectual property systems generally work less efficiently than systems based on social norms. 
(E) Existing copyright law should be modified to make it more cost effective for comedians to protect their comedic material through legal means.

8 
 8. Which one of the following, if true, would most clearly support the argument made in passage B?

(A) There is no social norm preventing chefs from using colleagues' recipes as inspiration, as long as those recipes are not copied exactly. 
(B) Chefs are significantly more likely to deny requested information to colleagues whom they believe have violated the operative social norms. 
(C) Recipes published in cookbooks are protected by copyright law from being published in other cookbooks. 
(D) The community of chefs is too small to effectively enforce sanctions against those who violate the operative social norms. 
(E) In practice it is virtually impossible to determine whether a chef has copied a colleague's recipe exactly or has instead independently developed that recipe.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

7. The author of passage A would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

Explanation

The author of Passage A would be most likely to agree with statement  (A) "The social norms that are operative among comedians make it possible for individual comedians to recoup the costs associated with developing a comedic routine."

Passage A discusses how copyright law is not an effective means of protecting comedic material, citing the practical and legal difficulties involved in enforcing copyright in joke-stealing disputes. However, the passage emphasizes that comedians are still able to assert ownership of jokes and maintain incentives to invest in new material through the use of social norms. These norms, enforced with sanctions like badmouthing and refusal to work with an offending comedian, can cause reputational harm and hinder a comedian's career. Therefore, the passage suggests that the social norms among comedians serve as an alternative means of protecting their comedic material and recouping the costs associated with its development.

Answer: A

GMATScorer21 · Answer

Hi!

I've got a doubt with Q8. I feel that option A more clearly supports the argument made in passage B. I've not be able to find anywhere that what chefs may tend to do if someone among them violates the norms.

Request expert opinion.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

In Passage B, the argument is made that social norms among chefs serve as a substitute for formal intellectual property laws in protecting recipes. These social norms include not copying another chef's recipe exactly, not revealing recipe-related secret information without permission, and giving credit to the developers of significant recipes.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

8. Which one of the following, if true, would most clearly support the argument made in passage B?

Explanation

The argument made in passage B is that social norms among chefs serve as a substitute for intellectual property laws in protecting recipes as valuable intellectual property. To support this argument, we need to find the answer choice that strengthens the idea that social norms effectively operate among chefs.

(A) There is no social norm preventing chefs from using colleagues' recipes as inspiration, as long as those recipes are not copied exactly. 
This answer choice weakens the argument because it suggests that there is no norm against using colleagues' recipes as inspiration, even if they are not copied exactly. This implies that chefs can freely borrow ideas from others without facing any social consequences.

(B) Chefs are significantly more likely to deny requested information to colleagues whom they believe have violated the operative social norms.  
This answer choice strengthens the argument by suggesting that chefs are more likely to withhold recipe-related information from colleagues who have violated the social norms. This indicates that there are consequences for violating the norms, as chefs respond by denying access to their recipes.

(C) Recipes published in cookbooks are protected by copyright law from being published in other cookbooks. 
This answer choice is unrelated to the argument in passage B. It discusses the protection of recipes by copyright law, which is not the main focus of the passage.

(D) The community of chefs is too small to effectively enforce sanctions against those who violate the operative social norms. 
This answer choice weakens the argument by suggesting that the community of chefs is too small to enforce the social norms effectively. If the community is small and lacks the necessary collective action, it would be difficult to maintain and enforce the norms, undermining the claim that social norms effectively protect recipes.

(E) In practice, it is virtually impossible to determine whether a chef has copied a colleague's recipe exactly or has instead independently developed that recipe. 
This answer choice weakens the argument by suggesting that it is difficult to determine whether a recipe has been copied exactly or independently developed. If it is virtually impossible to distinguish between the two, then it becomes challenging to enforce the social norms effectively.

Based on the analysis, the answer choice that most clearly supports the argument made in passage B is  (B)  Chefs are significantly more likely to deny requested information to colleagues whom they believe have violated the operative social norms. This choice strengthens the idea that social norms are effectively enforced among chefs, providing a substitute for intellectual property laws in protecting recipes.

Answer: B

MyYear2025 · Answer

Can someone explain Question 4?

guddo · Answer

4. The author of passage A would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

Passage A says comedians do have formal copyright protection, but they rarely use it because lawsuits are expensive and success is uncertain. Instead, comedians rely on informal social norms.  So the key point  is that copyright law is available, but it is not  practically effective  for comedians.

(A) Comedians rarely acknowledge the degree to which their own comedic material is influenced by the work of their peers.

This is not supported. Passage A discusses joke stealing and ownership, not whether comedians admit influence from others.

(B) Comedians would be more likely to protect their comedic material through copyright law if they had greater assurance that they could successfully bring infringement lawsuits against perceived perpetrators of joke theft.

This is correct. Passage A says lawsuits are rare partly because success is difficult and uncertain. So if comedians had more assurance of success, the author would likely agree that they would be more likely to use copyright law.

(C) Creative rights to jokes and comedic routines should be protected by trade secrecy law rather than by copyright law.

This is not supported. Passage A discusses copyright law and social norms, not trade secrecy law as the better legal option.

(D) The system of social norms operative among comedians is not robust enough to allow comedians to be properly compensated for the expenses they incur when developing new comedic material.

This is the opposite of the passage. The author says social norms help maintain substantial incentives to invest in new material.

(E) In the particular context of stand-up comedy, no informal system for protecting intellectual property can be as effective as a formal system.

This is also the opposite of the passage. Passage A says informal norms successfully substitute for formal intellectual property law in stand-up comedy.

Answer: (B)

egmat · Answer

Hi MyYear2025,

Happy to walk through Q4. This is an  inference  question, so the right answer has to be something the author of Passage A is  committed to  based on what's actually stated - not just something that sounds reasonable.

Start with the key sentence in Passage A (lines  8 - 13 ). The author says lawsuits are almost non-existent because of two things:

-  practical considerations  - enforcement is "prohibitively expensive," and
-  legal hurdles  that make success "difficult and  uncertain " in joke-stealing suits.

That second reason is the hook for  (B) . The author is telling us that one big deterrent to suing is that comedians  can't count on winning . Flip that around: if comedians had  greater assurance they could win , one of the two barriers the author named would drop away - so they'd be more likely to use copyright. That's exactly what  (B)  says. The author's own reasoning supports it.

Why the tempting wrong answers fail

(D)  is the trap most people fall for. It says the norms system is "not robust enough" to let comedians recoup their costs. But the passage says the opposite: through social norms, comedians "maintain substantial incentives to invest in new material" (lines  36 - 38 ).  Therefore ,  (D)contradicts  the passage.

(E)  is too extreme - "no informal system... can be as effective as a formal system." Passage A actually shows the informal system  working well , so the author wouldn't endorse a sweeping claim that formal always beats informal.

(A)  (comedians rarely acknowledge peer influence) and  (C)  (use trade secrecy law) are simply never discussed in Passage A -  (C) 's trade secrecy idea only appears in Passage B.

So the answer is  (B) : it's the one statement that follows directly from the author's own explanation of  why  comedians don't sue.

Answer: B

Comedians are not amused when their jokes are stolen, and for that

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Comedians are not amused when their jokes are stolen, and for that

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