Answer:
True, but patents and copyrights only are valid for a certain amount of time. Branding, however, is controlled by trademarks, not copyright/patent.
Explanation:
A patent essentially is a document that describes your unique invention or idea to the government, while ensuring you have exclusive rights to it. In the US, vaccines and laws of nature (which include, but are not limited to mathematical or scientific proofs) are not allowed to be patented. Your idea must also be able to be commercially applied (i.e. you can build something you can sell).
The description includes how you found how to make or produce a product (or how you came to an idea), a description or the product, and a description of how it works.
A patent usually lasts until 20 Years. However, it can become void sooner depending on how important it has become to industry and what kind of product it is.
Copyright is a form of protection by the law that ensures that no one can replicate your ORIGINAL (you do it yourself without the use of already existing works) work without your permission. Your work must be tangible (you can use your 5 senses to know it exists and what it is). This does not protect facts, ideas, or how something is done.
A copyright certificate in the US for a person is valid for their lifetime plus 75 years, and company-owned copyright certificate is valid for 50 years (usually). If certain criteria are met, it is possible to be extended (just don't count on it).
By ensuring that you have exclusive rights to your work through a patent or through copyright, it prevents competition from being able to steal your work (via imitation or bootlegging) of your product. The name and brand however, are protected by a differing mechanism: trademarks (notice the TM and (R) things on brand icons, and on their slogans?).
