patents and copyright

larkas

Copyrights don't last forever -- they just last for a much longer period of time.  In fact, the United States Constitution (Art. I Sec. 8 cl.  prohibits them from lasting forever.

Patents only last 20 years from filing because it is strong IP  right. Unlike copyright, independent creation is not a defense to patent infringement. A patent prevents anyone other than the patent holder (or their licensees) from practicing the invention. Copyright only protects expression and not ideas so other books with the same plot could still be created during the period of copyright.

The idea behind a patent is that a limited time monopoly is granted in exchange for full disclosure of the invention. Hence, when the patent expires, any person skilled in the art has all the information necessary to practice the invention.

Moreover, if patents were granted for longer periods of time, the patent system could actually harm invention creation, rather than encourage it as required by the Constitution.  Other people would not be able to make improvements to another's patented invention so they could practice the improvements. This discourages others from investing in the R & D to invent new improvements.

Although strong copyright laws actually also discourage the creation of new works similarly, since copyright does not protect facts or plots, this is a smaller concern for copyright.

Finally, if patents were granted for longer periods of time, there would various antitrust concerns.

P.Nagel

It's safe to assume now that copyrights will last indefinitely.  

Disney has the lobbying clout to ensure that Mickey Mouse will never enter the public domain.

I'll eat my hat if the copyright term isn't extended yet again by 2020.  

P.Nagel

...or rather, I'll eat whatever headgear futuristic people wear.

I hope that tree tasted good, Sonny.

M. Arth...

A basic patent could monopolize a new industry, a copyright protects the work of the artist not the subject matter.

JimIvey

This is a huge over-simplification, but you can think of patents as covering broader abstractions of your intellectual contribution for a shorter period of time and copyrights as covering a much more narrow abstraction of your intellectual contribution for a much longer period of time.

Patents:
broad abstraction, short time

Copyrights:
narrow abstraction, long time

The more accurate answer is that the reason for them being the way they are is that Congress wanted it that way.  However, the above is probably a fairly accurate, but overly simplistic, view of the reasons behind Congress's thinking (if one can fairly assume that Congress "thinks").

Regards.

M. Arth...

Long patents could monopolize industries and restrict national ecconomies. Granting patents encourages creativity.