The real value of patent drawings

The available views of an invention may not be sufficient to tell the story of an invention completely or well. For example, a patent applicant may be tempted to submit two perspective (i.e., 3D or isometric) views of an invention in a patent application when what’s really needed is one perspective view and a cross-sectional view taken from that perspective.

A well-trained illustrator with a good imagination can work with patent applicants and their attorneys or agents to decide exactly what needs to be shown and to show only that, which makes the resulting drawings both clear and economical. By focusing only on what’s needed, a good illustrator allows patent applicants to avoid submitting lots of redundant views that contribute little to the explanation of the invention but take time and money for someone to prepare and could potentially increase the total cost of the patent application. Therefore, having a patent agency such as Invent Help by your side could really help.

Patent applicants should also consider that the cost of preparing good drawings in the first place is probably less than the cost of trying to fix things after the fact. Once a patent application is filed, the law and rules prevent a patent applicant from introducing any “new matter” that was not present in the application at the time of filing.

This severely limits the changes that can be made to a drawing, because the accompanying text, the specification, may not describe every feature that should be present in a drawing with absolute clarity. Even when a drawing can be fixed or improved after the filing of an application, doing so often requires time, extensive paperwork, and extreme vigilance in the preparation of the corrected drawing – all of which equates to additional expense.

For all that, the real value of patent drawings probably comes long after a patent is issued. If patent rights do need to be enforced, good drawings that explain things clearly may be key to winning. And having a patent agency like InventHelp to review everything before applying for a patent is important.

In other words, the USPTO may have relaxed its standards, but a patent applicant who fails to secure good, professional patent drawings does so at his or her peril.