Here is some basic info on intellectual property with links to examples of each:
A patent is used for inventions of an object, system, or method of doing something. The chemical formula and process of making every medication you have in your medicine cabinet has been patented. The recipie for Coke has been patented.
An example of a patent would be the Fast Pass System. You can see the actual text of the patent for the fast pass system here:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/PTO %2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=64&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&s2=disney.ASNM.&co1=A ND&p=2&OS=AN/disney&RS=AN/disney
You can also have design patents. A design patent would be for something like the grill or the body of a car, or the outer casing of medical device like a diabetes blood test machine.
A trademark is a brand name, slogan, character name, or logo, etc. McDonald's. Disney. Goofy. Advil. All trademarked.
An example of a trademark would be for Disney would be the word FASTPASS. You can find that trademark here:
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield...e=6cbg8s.10.17
Anoher example would be this one, which is a trademark of the logo of my favorite place on Disney property, Jellyrolls:
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield...te=6cbg8s.11.5
A copyright is for an original song, movie script, poem, novel, story, etc.
Here is a link to the copyright info for the song "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid"
http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwe...07223752&SID=7
Patenting something like VMK cost Disney thousands of dollars in fees to the U.S. Patent Office (and thousands more in attorney fees), and it's a lengthy process that can take several years to complete. I don't know all there is to know about the patent process, but Disney is the owner of that patent, and unless they sell it to another entity, no one else can profit from that patent for many years (I want to say it's like seven years or something like that).
This is why you only see brand names of medicines when they first come out--the companies that develop them are the only ones who can make money off of them for the first several years, and then the generic brands can come out.
If a company or individual copies and/or profits off the product or process in a process that has been patented, that is called infringement. The owner of the patent has the right to challenge anyone who infringes upon their patent. They can start with having an attorney to send a letter to get them to stop using the product or process, and if that doesn't work, they can file a suit in a court and go to trial.
I have no doubt in my mind that Disney knows about VFK, and are debating whether or not they want to try to stop VFK (heck, they may have already sent a letter to VFK, and VFK may have chosen to ignore it so they can make some cash before they close). The powers that be at Disney may just be waiting until VFK gets to the point where they know they have a solid case against VFK to get them shut down (and from what I saw last night, I think they do--there were a lot of similarities).