2. A patent protects the underlying idea, while a copyright protects the form the idea is expressed in. One way I have seen people describe the difference is that patents protect things and copyrights protect ideas, but that is a little too simplistic and also slightly backwards. As mentioned, patents protect ideas, not copyrights.
I got a little confused here about patents. Why do people describe the difference between the two as patents protect things and copyrights protects ideas if they do exactly the opposite? The 'follow the money' example helped me understand this point though. It clarified this for me a little bit."
The key word for patents is "industrial applicability". A patent protects an idea too, but an idea that has potential for being used in some kind of industry. Check this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_applicability for a good explanation.
And to clarify, be sure to understand that when I say "industry", I mean it in the strict sense of the word, not in the broad sense, as in "movie industry".
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