Patent drawings aren’t just like other kinds of drawings. Patent illustrations aren’t intended to just show what an invention looks like. For utility patents, they need to be specific and detailed enough that someone “skilled in the art” can actually build the item described or use the method disclosed by the patent. For example, if … Read more
There’s no age requirement for getting a patent, and the youngest person to be granted a patent (so far) was a four-year-old Houston girl who invented an aid for grasping round knobs. A little-known holiday called “Kid Inventor’s Day” is celebrated on January 17 – Benjamin Franklin’s birthday. Franklin, a renowned inventor of things like … Read more
Patent disclosure is typically a part of the patenting process that indicates how to make the product or invention. Under US patent law, if an invention can be showing with a patent drawing or illustration, then at least one is required. According to the Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, drawings shall be required when they … Read more
A recent case from the Federal Circuit illustrates the importance of comprehensive patent drawings when seeking the reissue of a patent. Under 35 U.S.C. 251, a patent can be reissued if the original patent is defective: Whenever any patent is, through error, deemed wholly or partly inoperative or invalid, by reason of a defective specification … Read more