How is copyrighted software different from patented technology?
A patent protects an idea and a copyright protects an expression of an idea. A patent can be a more powerful form of protection because people could not legally design a software product that would infringe the claims of the patent. A copyright would be infringed if someone were to copy your source code without permission, use it to create derivative works, or use it as a reference when writing their own source code. However, it would be legal for them to rewrite the source code to perform the same function if they do not use your source code as a reference.
