Reading comp PrepTest 123 · Section 1 · Question 2

Passage

Questions 1-6  .        In a recent court case, a copy–shop owner was  . accused of violating copyright law when, Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Court case - Facts and point at issue
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Case background:
      • Copy-shop owner charged with copyright violation in making course packs for a local university
    • Owner’s view:
      • The process of getting permission is too difficult, and course packs help students/professors
    • Comparison:
      • Copying for education is generally OK, but in this case , the copy-shop owner making copies for profit

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Copyright law factors; Publisher argument; Ruling
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of factors
    • Publishers’ view:
      • Other copy shops won’t pay, lowering the value of the material (one of the factors)
    • Court’s ruling:
      • Sided with the copy-shop owner; educational purposes, plus fee based on copy costs, not material

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • More on the Court’s ruling
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Copy business based on services, not material
    • Professors/students can make copies, so they can pay others to make copies

Main Point: A court recently ruled that a copy-shop that makes copies of copyrighted materials for educational course packs doesn’t violate the copyright in that material since they’re selling services, not the material, and the students/professors who would otherwise copy the material are allowed to do so.

Key Lines?

Lines 1-7 - The basis for the court case

Lines 15-20 - Relevant law and wrinkle in this case

Lines 27-31 - Publisher’s argument

Lines 35-44 - The Court’s ruling

Lines 50-54 - More on the Court’s ruling/reasoning

Meta-Structure?

Reporting a Viewpoint: One common structure that legal studies passages can take is the reporting of a court’s decision. When a single case makes up the entirety of the passage and the author doesn’t weigh in on whether they agree with the court’s decision, we typically find that the Reporting a Viewpoint Meta-Structure applies. And when that’s the case, there are some important pieces of information you should always focus on: the underlying facts/question of law; the arguments from both sides; the court’s ruling; the court’s rationale.

Here, the underlying details are raised in Lines 1-7, suggesting the question, “Can a copy-shop owner legally provide copies of copyrighted educational material to students and professors?” The copy-shop owner’s argument is highlighted in Lines 10-16. The publishers’ arguments show up in Lines 28-31. The rest of the passage goes through the court’s ruling and rationale — this isn’t a violation of copyright law because the shops are selling services, not the copyrighted materials, and the students/professors can legally make copies under the education exception. This ruling and rationale also make up the main point of the passage.

List: Lines 21-27 provide a list of factors relevant in considering a copyright case. This is a limited list that plays into the publishers’ argument and the Court’s ruling, so it’s likely to show up as one or two questions instead of as a central focus of big-picture questions.

Last Thoughts?

This legal passage is actually pretty nice in that it clearly outlines each important element that we should be looking for in such a passage! As such, we should be sure to know where each piece is located so that we can more easily find the relevant information for each question.

Question prompt

In lines 23—27, the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Legal

Strategy Overview

Review the purpose of the paragraph including Lines 23-27, then use that big-picture context and the immediate context around those lines to define the role of this list

Answer Anticipation

Lines 23-27 show up in Paragraph 2, and the list of factors is a part of the opening line of that paragraph. The overall purpose of the paragraph, as we defined it after reading it, is actually multi-faceted. We said it introduced these factors, put forward the publishers’ argument, and then presented the ruling.The list of factors here must have something to do with the publishers’ argument or the ruling. And, in fact, it has to do with both. One of the elements on the list is how using copyrighted materials affects the work’s potential market value. The publishers argued that the copyshop's copies would lead to that value going down, but the court disagreed.So the list of factors is introduced to provide the legal background against which the publishers’ argument and the court’s ruling would be made. Let’s find an answer to that effect.

Answer choices

  1. A
    demonstrate why the copy–shop Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) We’re looking for an answer choice that says the list of factors provides legal background to the publishers’ argument and the courts’ ruling. Does this answer choice say that?

    Nope. The list is said to be the factors involved in “determining whether the use of copyrighted materials is protected”(Lines 21-23), which isn’t the same as determining whether copyright law applies. It does, but the copying is only protected in certain cases.

  2. B
    explain the charges the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) We’re looking for an answer choice that says the list of factors provides legal background to the publishers’ argument and the courts’ ruling. Does this answer choice say that?

    No. The details of the case explain why the case was brought against the owner (Lines 5-7), not the law behind it. Also, bringing “charges” isn’t necessarily the same as bringing a suit.

  3. C
    illustrate a major flaw Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) We’re looking for an answer choice that says the list of factors provides legal background to the publishers’ argument and the courts’ ruling. Does this answer choice say that?

    Negative. The publishers relied on an element in the list in making their case (Lines 26-31), so the list itself can’t serve as an illustration of a flaw in their case.

  4. D
    defend the right to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) We’re looking for an answer choice that says the list of factors provides legal background to the publishers’ argument and the courts’ ruling. Does this answer choice say that?

    Again, no. The author doesn’t argue in favor of the education exception. The author accepts it as a facet of copyright law (Lines 16-18). Also, the list of factors doesn’t include anything that directly mentions this exception!

  5. E
    provide the legal context Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) We’re looking for an answer choice that says the list of factors provides legal background to the publishers’ argument and the courts’ ruling. Does this answer choice say that?

    Yes! The factors listed are those that determine whether the use of copyrighted materials is protected, and that’s the core question in the case (Lines 21-23). So, it’s accurate to say this list provides the legal context for the suit, making it the correct answer.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 7%
  2. B 8%
  3. C 1%
  4. D 1%
  5. E Credited 83%

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