If you write a manual for making a TSMC microchip that presentstion is copyrighted.
It may also contain patented and trademarked things.
But the process itself of
- get sand
- mold
- make wafer
Is not copyrighted.
This is called idea - expression.
You can’t copyright the idea but you can copyright the expression. (It’s why recipes have stories about grandma. If someone scrapes that story that’s copyright infringement)
You an definitely patent a recipe for most manufacturable items. You can't copyright it.
As an extension, you can copyright an operation manual, but not the "general" expression of the pure operational steps themselves. Someone else could rewrite the operational manual "from scratch".
Then how do software patents work? Aren't they mostly general expressions of steps used by computers? I can see that actual code would be copyrightable but how is it patentable?
- Copyright: "I" created $thing. I have the right to distribute copies of that exact thing. I may grant others the right to distribute $thing I've made.
- Patent: I have written down $process. No one else before me wrote down this process (that the patent office has record of.) This process makes a thing. No one else has the right to use that process unless I agree to it for about 20 years in the US.
And for good measure:
- Trademark: I sell $thing under $brand. No one else has the right to sell similar $things with a $brand that sounds like mine.
It may also contain patented and trademarked things.
But the process itself of
- get sand
- mold
- make wafer
Is not copyrighted.
This is called idea - expression.
You can’t copyright the idea but you can copyright the expression. (It’s why recipes have stories about grandma. If someone scrapes that story that’s copyright infringement)