text: what is difference between patent and copyright?   a patent is the protection of the implementation of an idea; so you can protect a thing, the artistic design of a thing, a human-designed plant, or a process.  a copyright protects a unique writing, like a book, poem, or short story.  where things get fuzzy is where the idea is the writing, like a computer program. you can (and want to) do both, because you want to protect the idea so no one can change it slightly and sell it, as well as the actual source so that the actual code is protected.