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One is a monopoly on a physical object, the other is a monopoly on an idea. Ideas are far more abstract.

• rayiner 8y ago
  Copyright is a monopoly on a specific creative work, not an idea. It’s intangible but it’s not an idea (Microsoft Windows for example, isn’t an “idea”). It’s a product of labor, just like a house you built.
  • thomastjeffery 8y ago
    That intangibility is what I am trying to get at: If someone builds an exact copy of your house across the street, you don't lose anything. The idea that you should be allowed to prevent them from doing so is copyright.
  • dctoedt 8y ago
    > Copyright is a monopoly on a specific creative work, not an idea. But courts — urged on by copyright owners — have extended the scope of copyright protection to nonliteral aspects such as (for example) look and feel and structure, sequence, and organization. Sometimes this is done while paying lip service to the principle that copyright doesn't protect ideas. The resulting fuzziness of the boundaries is one of the major sources of complaint.