The description of the invention has to enable a person familiar with the field of the invention how to make, use, and practice the invention. In most countries, including the United States, a patent expires 20 years from the date of applying for the patent. But a patent is only one way to protect intellectual property. Besides patents, there are copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. Copyrights A copyright applies to original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium.
Copyrights protect expression.
In the U.S., copyrights exist as soon as a work of authorship has been fixed in a tangible medium. However, the copyright must be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office before suit for copyright infringement can be brought. In contrast to a patent, a copyright cannot be granted to protect an invention. Copyrights do not extend to ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods of operation, concepts, principles, or discoveries. The owner of a copyright has the exclusive right to reproduce the work, to make derivative works, to distribute and sell copies of the work, to perform the work publicly, and to display the work publicly.