Explanation
A. The passage does not provide any information regarding comedians' acknowledgement of the influence of their peers on their own material.
B. (Correct Response) Passage A suggests that the absence of lawsuits among comedians for joke theft is due, in part, to the impracticality and economic inefficiency of legal action rather than a belief that their material does not deserve protection.
C. There is no mention in Passage A of trade secrecy law being a preferred method of protection over copyright law for comedians' material.
D. Passage A does not critique the robustness of the social norms system; rather, it explains how this system operates as an effective alternative to formal legal recourse.
E. Passage A does not assert that no informal system could be as effective as a formal system. It suggests that social norms have been effectively used in place of formal legal protections.
Passage A implies that if comedians had more confidence in the legal system's ability to provide a cost-effective means of redress for joke theft, they might be more inclined to seek copyright protection.