How is a copyright different from a patent or trademark?
Patents and trademarks are “rights” which are enshrined in law, but which must be applied for and a fee is required in order to maintain them. A patent can be used to protect an “idea”, the actually novelty of an invention rather than a particular realisation of it. These things normally need to be applied for in each legal jurisdiction in which you wish them to apply — for example the United States, and in Europe and in various other countries. Patents protect all usage of a particular idea, concept or invention for a particular period of time and others can only make use of them by paying the patent owner a license fee. In contrast, copyright is an automatic write granted to the creator of an artistic or other work which protects their moral (and now legal) right to obtain any profits made by selling that work in any form. Following the Berne convention and a number of other treaties, the majority of countries in the world recognise copyright in broadly similar ways although there a
