Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Hard

PT130 S2 P3 Q19 Explanation

Tangible-object Theory

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsInferenceLaw

Keep going in LSAT Lab

  • Save & drill this skill build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Passage

Proponents of the tangible-object theory of copyright argue that copyright and similar intellectual-property rights can be explained as logical extensions of the right to own concrete, tangible objects. This view depends on the claim that every copyrightable work can be manifested in some physical form, such as a manuscript or a videotape. the object, copy it, or destroy it. One may also transfer ownership of it to another.

In creating a new and original object from materials that one owns, one becomes the owner of that object and thereby acquires all of the rights that ownership entails. But if the owner transfers ownership of the object, the full complement of rights is not necessarily transferred to the new owner; instead, for the production of similar or analogous things-for example, a public performance of a musical score.

According to proponents of the tangible-object theory, its chief advantage is that it justifies intellectual property rights without recourse to the widely accepted but problematic supposition that one can own abstract, intangible things such as ideas. But while this account seems plausible for copyrightable entities that do, in fact, have enduring tangible copyright unless the poet can be said to already own the ideas expressed in the work.

What this question is testing

Inference

Your task

Find what must be true based on what the passage or stimulus states.

Common trap

Answers that are plausible or likely but not actually guaranteed by the text.

Winning move

Keep only the choice the statements fully support — eliminate anything that requires an extra assumption.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
19.

The passage provides the most support for inferring which one of the

Answer choices

  1. Too Strong18% picked this

    In most transactions involving the transfer of non-intellectual property, at least some rights of ownership are

    The passage uses an example of non-intellectual property in the second paragraph, but to say that this is true in most transactions of non-intellectual property goes too far.

  2. Unsupported Relationship7% picked this

    The notion of retained rights of ownership is currently applied to only those areas of law that do

    The current application of copyright law is not discussed in the passage.

  3. Correct62% picked this

    The idea that ownership of the right to copy an item for profit can be transferred is compatible with a

    Why this is right

    This is supportable from the second paragraph, since "compatible" is such a low bar to clear (it literally just means "does not contradict"). In the last sentence of the 2nd paragraph, it says that "the rights typically retained by the original producer would include the right to copy the object for profit", allowing space for the idea that sometimes the right copy the object for profit is not retained; it's transferred to the new owner.

    Skill tested: Inference · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

  4. Contradiction12% picked this

    Ownership of intellectual property is sufficiently protected by the provisions that, under many legal systems, apply to ownership of

    The tangible-object theory does not provide sufficient protection of intellectual property (third paragraph).

  5. Unsupported Relationship2% picked this

    Protection of computer programs under intellectual-property law is justifiable only if the programs are likely to be used as a guide for the

    Such computer programs need not be used as a guide for the production of similar or analogous programs.

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free