A legal device that gives the creator of literary, artistic, musical or other creative work the sole right to publish and sell that work. Copyright owners have the right to control the reproduction of their work, including the right to receive payment for that reproduction. An author may grant or sell those rights to others, including publishers and recording companies. Violation of copyright is called infringement. The typical duration of copyright is the author’s life plus fifty years.

A set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor for a limited period of time (usually twenty years) in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention. Usually patents constitute four different classes: machine (a device or apparatus for the performance of a specific task); process; manufacture (any fabricated or manufactured product); or the composition of matter (a chemical mixture or compound).