Critical Reasoning

A new law regarding written work gives the ownership of a magazine article's copyright - the exclusive right to reproduce and sell a creative or intellectual work - to the journalist who wrote the article rather than to the magazine company for which that journalist works. In addition to licensing the rights he receives to the magazine company for which he works, a journalist plans to take advantage of this new law by also licensing the rights to his articles to textbook companies, allowing these companies to reproduce and sell his articles, in order to maximize his profits.

Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on the likelihood that the journalist's plan will succeed?

Textbook companies will likely try to hire journalists who currently work for magazine companies.

For copyright purposes, magazine articles are considered to be intellectual work but are not considered to be creative work.

The new law is not expected to undermine the ability of magazine or textbook companies to make a profit.

Both textbook and magazine publishing companies often employ only writers who sign contracts stating they will not publish articles through any other outlet.

While the law gives journalists the rights to distribute copies of their works, the law also limits the number of times a source can publish the same article.