Instructor Resource
Trager, The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication 6e
CQ Press, 2018
Chapter 11: Intellectual Property
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. The United States has a copyright law because ______.
a. individual states adopted copyright laws when the United States was formed
b. the United States adopted the copyright model used in France
c. authors, composers, and other creative artists demanded a copyright law
d. the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to adopt a copyright law
2. A work is copyrighted when ______.
a. it is created
c. the creator thinks of the original idea
d. it is registered
3. Which of the following may be protected by copyright?
a. scientific discoveries
b. historical events
c. a story published on a newspaper’s front page
d. all of these
4. On its newscasts and without permission, a radio station reads stories from the
local daily newspaper’s front page. The paper likely will be successful suing for
______.
a. violation of the Berne Convention
b. trademark infringement
c. unfair competition
d. plagiarism
5. Sandy, a reporter for KSOX-TV, videotapes a fire in a downtown store and
includes a portion of the tape in a story aired on the 10 p.m. news. KSOX
______.
a. can broadcast the tape once and then the tape’s copyright reverts to Sandy
b. automatically shares the tape’s copyright with Sandy
c. owns the tape’s copyright for 10 years before the copyright reverts to Sandy
d. owns the tape’s copyright
6. The videotape made by the KSOX crew in the previous question is called a
______.
a. registered work
b. trademarked videotape
c. work made for hire
d. licensed videotape
7. Kim is a freelance journalist who writes a story about river pollution. Kim’s
copyright on the story will last for ______.
a. 125 years from the date he wrote the story
b. his lifetime plus 70 more years
c. 28 years, renewable for another 28 years
d. 75 years
8. Which of the following is a true statement about copyright infringement cases?
a. A plaintiff must show proof of copying.
b. Sometimes expert testimony is allowed, especially in highly technical cases.
c. Juries are empowered to play a central role in determining questions of
substantial similarity.
d. all of these
Instructor Resource
Trager, The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication 6e
CQ Press, 2018
Answer Location: Copyright
Difficulty Level: Easy
9. To sue for copyright infringement under the current U.S. copyright law, a
copyright holder must ______.
a. register the copyright before the infringement takes place
b. register the copyright before suing
c. mail a copy of the copyrighted work to himself or herself
d. do nothing except hire a lawyer
10. In copyright law, the term “fair use” means ______.
a. the most commonly used defense against charges of copyright infringement
b. a copyright law provision allowing journalists to quote as much of a
copyrighted work as they want in news stories
c. a copyright law provision allowing people to download recordings without
asking permission from the copyright holders
d. the defense in a copyright infringement suit when copyrighted music is used in
a commercial without permission
11. Usually, the most important consideration when a court determines whether
using copyrighted material without permission constitutes fair use is ______.
a. the quantity and quality of a work copied
b. what the copyright holder intended the work to be used for
c. whether the copyrighted work was a work for hire
d. the impact on the copyrighted work’s market value
12. The most distinctive category of trademarks is ______.
a. fanciful marks
b. arbitrary marks
c. suggestive marks
d. descriptive marks
Instructor Resource
Trager, The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication 6e
CQ Press, 2018
Difficulty Level: Easy
13. Which of the following is the backbone of U.S. copyright law?
a. Digital Millennium Copyright Act
b. 1976 Copyright Act
c. Communication Act of 1934
d. Berne Convention
14. Which of the following was Congress’s attempt to integrate the internet and
other digital media more squarely into U.S. copyright law?
a. Digital Millennium Copyright Act
b. 1976 Copyright Act
c. Communication Act of 1934
d. Berne Convention
15. Which of the following is defined as an “invented mark” or a made-up word?
a. arbitrary mark
b. fanciful mark
c. suggestive mark
d. descriptive mark
16. Which of the following marks is the most distinct and therefore most likely to
receive trademark protection?
a. arbitrary mark
b. fanciful mark
c. suggestive mark
d. descriptive mark
17. What is trademark tacking?
Instructor Resource
Trager, The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication 6e
CQ Press, 2018
a. allows a trademark owner to slightly alter a trademark without abandoning
ownership of the original mark
b. a form of trademark infringement
c. refers to the concept that trademark law takes precedence over domain
registration in internet trademark claims
d. a form of trademark dilution
1. The United States joined the Berne Convention in 1886 when many other
countries agreed to the international copyright treaty.
2. A work must be published and distributed to have copyright protection.
3. Congressional laws allow individuals to make copies of television programs
and computer software for their own personal use.
4. The 1976 Copyright Act says copyright protection can be lost if a copyright
notice—e.g., © 2014 Jan Jones—is not used.
5. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment allows
downloading current music recordings from the internet without permission.
6. A trademark is a word, name, symbol, or design used to identify a company’s
goods.
7. A word, name, or symbol must be distinctive to be eligible for a trademark.
8. Trademark law does not protect internet domain names.
9. Dilution is using a well-known trademark without permission in a way that
disparages the mark.
10. The federal trademark law is called the Eldred Act.
between an individual and a corporation holding a copyright.
12. A news story reporting an automobile accident can receive copyright
protection. But the underlying facts—the accident itself—cannot be copyrighted.
13. The law does not give copyright protection to words and phrases, including
advertising slogans and titles of books, movies, and television programs. These
lack sufficient originality to qualify for copyright protection. However, a trademark
can protect these creations.
14. Plagiarism commonly means using others’ ideas without attribution. But when
someone’s work is sufficiently similar to another’s creation—copying a novel’s
plot, using similar fictional characters, or replicating another’s interpretation of
historical facts, for example—plagiarism becomes a copyright law violation.
15. Generic words are eligible for trademark protection.
1. In thanks for all her work on his current research, Prof. Jones gives his
graduate student Leslie the notes he wrote about his last research project. Jones
said to Leslie, “These notes are yours to keep.” Needing money to complete her
education, Leslie decides to arrange with a book publisher to publish Jones’s
notes. Jones is a very famous scientist. A book reprinting Jones’s notes likely
would sell well. Do Leslie and the book publisher have the right to publish
Jones’s notes?
2. You are chosen to edit the university yearbook. One of your staff members has
chosen a 500-word excerpt to use on the yearbook’s first page. The excerpt is
from a short novel (125 pages) that was published last summer and won every
prestigious award given to books in Fall 2013. The excerpt seems to sum up the
whole point of the novel, but would be perfect as the introduction to the yearbook.
You question your staff member about the excerpt, and she says, “No, I didn’t
bother to get permission to reprint it. I remember in media law class something
was said about not needing permission to use just a little of something.” If the
novel’s author (or publisher) sues the yearbook for copyright infringement, what
would your best defense be? Would your defense be successful? Why or why
not?
3. Explain the “hot news” doctrine and its history.
4. The U.S. Supreme Court has listed a number of factors for courts to consider
in determining whether a person acted as an employee so that the works were
made for hire. List at least three of the six factors.
5. Define the Transmit Clause.
6. Explain the significance/basic outcome of the Supreme Court’s Aereo decision
(2014).
7. Transformative use is one of the primary defenses used today when arguing
fair use. Transformative use is generally fair use if the answer to two questions is
“yes”—what are those two questions?
8. What is a disparaging trademark? Can you give an example?