Copyright was originally the grant of a temporary government–supported monopoly on copying a work. Its sole purpose w...

Ravi on December 14, 2018

@letc,

We're tasked with finding an answer that most strongly supports the conclusion of the argument. We're looking for a premise that supports the notion that copyright sometimes goes beyond its original purpose.

Earlier in the stimulus, the author says that copyright's "sole purpose was to encourage the circulation of ideas by giving authors the opportunity to derive a reasonable financial award from their works."

Given this information, we're looking for the answer that shows that copyright sometimes goes beyond this purpose.

Answer choices (A), (B), (C), and (D) all have nothing to do with what the author stated the sole purpose of copyright, so there is no way that they can support the assertion that copyright sometimes goes beyond its original purpose.

Answer choice (E) most strongly supports the author's conclusion, adding support that copyright sometimes goes beyond its original purpose. (E) states that copyrights hold for many years after an author's death. If this completed the passage, this would certainly support the argument. If the sole purpose of copyright was to help authors make money from their works, then copyrights holding for years after an author's death would be going beyond the original purpose of copyright.