What is the difference between applying for software copyright and applying for software patent?

First, according to the law, the basis for copyright protection of different software is the Copyright Law and the Regulations on the Protection of Computer Software. The patent protection of software is based on patent law. For specific examination criteria, please refer to Chapter 9, Part II of China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Examination Guide, "Several Issues Concerning Examination of Applications for Invention Patents Involving Computer Programs". Second: different protection principles Software copyright is automatically generated after the completion of software creation, and it is also a voluntary registration of software copyright. The purpose of registration is to reflect the effectiveness of notarization, which is mainly used to declare the ownership of copyright and make the evidence of subsequent rights protection more powerful. Software patents must be applied to the patent office for protection, so they must be actively applied. The patent system is based on the principle of "openness for protection". Third, the materials submitted by different software copyright applications are source code and user's operation manual, so software copyright protection is the form of expression, not the idea. In this way, it is possible for competitors to study your software and then change the programming language to achieve the same result, but because the code is different, it does not infringe copyright. The software patent describes the design idea of the software at the time of application (note that it must be expressed in the form of technical scheme, or preferably combined with hardware), including the content of software flow chart, rather than mainly explaining which programming language is used to realize it. Once authorized, anyone who adopts the design idea or scheme of software patent may constitute infringement. Fourth, the application rate is different. Software copyright registration generally does not require substantive examination. As long as the materials submitted during the formal examination meet the requirements and do not violate the provisions of the copyright law, rights can be obtained, and the registration rate is extremely high. Software patents need formal examination and actual examination. Formal examination is mainly to examine whether the patented materials meet the application requirements. After the formal examination is passed, it will be made public, and then it will enter the substantive examination to examine whether the patent meets the requirements of the patent law, which must meet many requirements such as novelty, creativity and practicality. Generally, pure software patents are not easy to obtain rights, and the combination of software and hardware will improve the authorization rate, but the pass rate is still not high on the whole. Fifth, for citizen works with different protection periods and maintenance fees, the relevant copyright protection period stipulated by law is 50 years after the author's life and death; For the works of legal persons and other organizations, the relevant copyright protection period stipulated by law is 50 years. In terms of cost, only the initial application fee will be paid, and no maintenance fee will be charged in the future. Generally speaking, software patents can only be applied for invention patents, and the protection period is 20 years from the date of application. The invention patent needs to pay an annual fee every year, and failure to pay after the expiration is regarded as giving up the patent right. Sixth, the advantages and disadvantages are different. Software copyright can be protected privately, and creators can get copyright protection quickly. General registration generally takes about 4 months to authorize, and urgent application for software copyright can be authorized within one working day at the earliest. It allows copyright owners to quickly seize the market and obtain corresponding government funding.