Patentable Subject Matter

• In the United States, a patent application must demonstrate that the invention is patentable subject matter. The U.S. Patent Act states that "any new and useful process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter or any new useful improvement thereof" can be patented. However, the act explicitly does not protect abstract ideas, laws or phenomena of nature.
  
  

Application

• The Patent Act prohibits patents for only abstract ideas, not all ideas. Quinn explains that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not ask inventors to submit a model or prototype of inventions. Instead, the application requires inventors to provide an extremely detailed description accompanied by drawings. Examiners expect to be able to construct the invention using the drawings and description. Examiners also expect the description to clearly demonstrate novelty and show that the invention can do what the inventor claims.
  
  

Ideas and the Application

• Quinn notes that some inventors may be able to patent an idea. However, the idea must be sufficiently developed to the point where the inventor can submit technical details and visual specifications to the USPTO. The USPTO recommends consulting with a registered patent agent or attorney before preparing a patent application.
  
  

Copyright

• Some ideas may be considerably easier to develop to a stage where they can achieve copyright protection. Copyright is automatic and free, while patents cost upward of $10,000 and can take up to three years to receive. Copyright protects expressions or cultural productions, including literary and visual works, sound recordings, dramatic works and more. While copyright does not protect ideas, it automatically protects original expressions of ideas; for example, copyright does not protect an architectural concept, but once an architect puts the concept into a design through a computer program or a sketchpad, the architect holds copyright.