what is copyright? 

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted by the law of a jurisdiction to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. Exceptions and limitations to these rights strive to balance the public interest in the wide distribution of the material produced and to encourage creativity. Exceptions include fair dealing and fair use, and such use does not require the permission of the copyright owner. All other uses require permission and copyright owners can license or permanently transfer or assign their exclusive rights to others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
what is fair use?

Fair use, a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work, is a doctrine in United States copyright  that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders. For example, such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

what is patent?

It is a property right for an invention granted by a government to the inventor. A United States patent gives inventors the right “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling their invention throughout the United States or importing their invention into the United States” for a limited time. In exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted and for fees paid to the United States. 


http://inventors.about.com/od/inventing101patents/f/What_patent.htm