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The copyright protects the form of expression rather than the
subject matter of the writing. For example, a description of a
machine could receive a copyright, but this would only prevent
others from copying the description; it would not prevent others
from writing a description of their own or from making and using the
machine.
What Is a Patent?
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the
inventor, issued by the Patent and Trademark Office. The term of a
new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for
the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from
the date an earlier related patent application was filed, subject to
the payment of maintenance fees. US patent grants are effective only
within the US, US territories, and US possessions.
The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the
statute and of the patent grant itself, "the right to exclude others
from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" the patented
invention in the United States or "importing" the patented invention
into the United States. What is granted is not the right to make,
use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others
from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the
invention.
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