Legal theorists supporting the tangible–object theory of intellectual property are most likely to believe which one o...

Mehran on May 22, 2018

Hi @meisen, thanks for your post.

This question asks you to identify the answer choice that tangible-object theorists are most likely to believe.

Answer choice (E) is correct because there is textual support that tangible-object theorists likely believe "the law need not invoke the notion of inventors' ownership of abstract ideas" to afford patent protections for inventions. See text at lines 35-39 (the chief advantage of the tangible-object theory, according to its proponents, "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").

Answer choice (B) is incorrect because there is no textual support for the claim that "most legal systems explicitly rely on the tangible-object theory" - and there is no indication that tangible-object theorists, themselves, are most likely to believe this statement.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Anna20 on July 20, 2020

Why is D incorrect?

lsatstudier1 on August 14, 2020

Bumping the July 20th request to explain why not D?

Morad on October 6, 2021

Hi, not a tutor, but D) says "Some works deserving of copyright protection simply cannot be manifested as concrete, tangible objects."

Lines 4-7 of the passage says this of tangible–object theory: "This view depends on the claim that every copyrightable work can be manifested in some physical form, such as a manuscript or a videotape."

Drawing it out in S&N notation, it says the following:

"Copyrightable work-> Can be manifested in some physical form".

That said, answer choice D) seems to contradict what's said in the passage of supporters. The theory states that if a work discussed can't be manifested in some physical form, then it's a work that can't be copyrighted. So it's very unlikely then that the supporters of the theory would think the work in question is something deserving of copyright protection.

Since the question is asking for the most likely supported choice, we can say with at least modicum of confidence that answer choice D) is wrong since it's less likely than answer choice E).

Jasmine1 on October 15, 2021

@morad thanks for your explanation.

Ravi on February 5, 2022

@Morad, great explanation!

Ravi on February 5, 2022

@morad, great explanation!