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[pnlt]

Why would it be preferable to protect an iphone app by patent than by copyright?  Obviously the copyright route would be much cheaper and faster.  Other thougths?

[JimIvey]

Patents and copyrights cover different things.

Copyrights are cheaper and faster to get, but they cover less.  If I write an app identical to yours but I didn't copy your app (just independently created the same app), I didn't infringe your copyright.  Now, you and I can compete head-to-head in the marketplace.

Similarly (though this is not as certain), I can see your app and take the underlying idea and write my own app for the same idea for Android.  And, I might sell more since Android has a larger install base than iPhone.

For a patent, you'd have to distill your app down to the essence of its newness.  In effect, you'd try to protect the underlying idea.  You'd have to go through a review of your application to verify that your idea is new and not some trivial variation of something already known.  The process is expensive and lengthy.

However, at the end, I wouldn't be able to implement your idea for Android, Windows, Symbian, or any other smartphone OS or any OS anywhere in the US -- depending on the particular language of your claims.  It wouldn't matter if I developed the idea myself independently or whether I used the underlying idea rather than just copying your code directly.

Lastly, you can get both patents and copyrights on software, or either, or neither.

Regards.

[martmarys12]

So! I have 1 app for iphone. How I make it patentable?