In the United States, "prescriptive easement" cannot be used to acquire the right to protect a view over a neighboring property no matter how long a property owner has had a view over the neighbor's property. This concept, known as "ancient lights" in some common law jurisdictions, is not recognized in any U.S. state.

The concept of acquiring rights in other people's property without their permission, merely by use, is also important in "adverse possession," informally called "squatters' rights". However, adverse possession is a means of acquiring the legal title to property not merely the right to use it. In many U.S. states, additional requirements apply to adverse possession. For example, in some states, acquiring title by adverse possession requires exclusive use of another person's property for at least five years, payment of all property taxes on the property for those five years, and "open, notorious, hostile, actual, and exclusive" possession of the property for those five years. Adverse possession is a more complicated topic.

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