COPYRIGHT LAW
Copyright law emanates from the constitution in Article 4§8, which provides for " limited protection for the rights of authors …" .

Copyright protection pertains to writings, primarily, and to visual and audio subject matter. Thus, computer programs may be copyrighted as well as movies, plays, books, sheet music, dance steps and many other creative works.

A utility patent protects the structure , or the embodiment of a particular idea for an item, method, process, article and the like.. Copyright does not protect ideas. Copyright protects not the idea itself, but the expression of the idea. Thus, if someone discovers a new way to mulch corn, that person can file a patent on the method of mulching corn. That patent would present the method from being carried out by any other person unless they had a license from the patentee to do so. On the other hand, if the party who discovers how to mulch corn uniquely, writes a book about the procedure, the book may be copyrighted. The protection afforded by the copyright, however, only protects the words pertaining to the idea and not the underlining idea of the unique way of mulching corn. Thus, the idea itself is not protected.

One must note that if another person wanted to write another book on the same method of mulching corn, but the book utilized different words and thoughts in the writer's material, the second writer could also obtain a copyright on the expression of his same idea on how to mulch corn. This is one of the very basic differences between the protection afforded by copyright law versus patent law.

Under current U.S. law the body of rights to be enjoyed under copyright law arise at the time of the completion of the creative work. Again, this differs from a patent in that the rights arise under a patent only after an application is filed and the patent issues. . Basically, a copyright registration is to protect the creative work from someone who is lazy and copies the material that is covered by the copyright registration.

However, also under American law, the mere fact that one has a body of copyright rights, doesn't give the holder the right to enforce those rights. Those rights must be protected in order to bring suit against a third party infringer. Protection of the rights is achieved by the filing of an application for copyright registration of the creative work. Whereas a patent application is filed and prosecuted in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, a copyright application for registration is filed with the United States Library of Congress, located in Washington, D.C. Copyright protection is a federal right and is only enforceable in the Federal District Courts.

Copyright protection is not absolute. There are certain exceptions wherein copying, to a limited degree, is legally permitted. The one exception that occurs the most is the FAIR USE exception. Under Fair Use, an author or other writer may quote from a book a small portion of the text or a small portion of a song, etc., for the purpose of writing a review; for example, as for a newspaper column. Another exception allowed is that of PARODY. The Supreme Court placed limits in the Right of Parody in the Dr. Seuss case in recent years. In the same way, a theatre company can put a small quote from a review into its advertising.

Copyright law is in a flux today as the U.S. Supreme Court may review the recent law changes to extend the period for copyright protection, which in general is now the life of the author plus 75 years.. Patent Protection on the other hand is only 20 years from the date of the filing of the patent application.