Copyrights are a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.  Where the owner of a copyright is a natural person, the author may be granted a period of exclusive ownership in this intellectual property for the author's life plus 70 years.  Where a company owns the copyright, the period of exclusivity is 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation.

A patent is an intellectual property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States” for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.