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Law Office of John B. Hudak, PLLC

An intellectual property law firm: patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

Utility Patent Drawings Explained

Are utility patent drawings required?

Yes, patent drawings are required because the drawings fully describe the invention, which is required.
A drawing goes a long way to describe the invention – and therefore is required.
There are some types of patents which do not necessarily require drawings, but consider patent drawings required. The few types where drawings may not be required are: process or method inventions; coated articles or products; articles made from a particular material or composition; laminated structures; and articles, apparatus, or systems where the sole distinguishing feature is presence of a particular material.

Do provisional patent applications require drawings?

Yes, a provisional patent application should normally contain drawings. This is true because a provisional patent application is a way of claiming a priority date, which is the earliest time point claiming rights to the invention. The provisional patent application should fully disclose what the invention is—so that the provisional patent application will be effective in claiming a priority date to all the elements of the invention and a full disclosure—including drawings—makes that happen.

How many drawings can a utility patent have?

A patent can have as many drawings as needed—there is no per se limit. Although the description of the invention should be clear and not excessively long.
If there are many drawings it is possible that the patent application is claiming more than one invention which is not allowed.
Also, there are extra fees for patent applications which are very long, which is a disincentive for adding too many drawings. There is a fee of $420, $210, or $105 for each additional 50 sheets that exceeds 100 sheets of the specification (description, claims, and drawings)—for undiscounted, small, and micro entities respectfully.

How important are utility patent drawings?

Patent drawings are very important. If an invention cannot be fully explained without a drawing then a patent drawing is required.
Patent drawings are the norm and important.
Also any element which is included in a claim is required to be shown in the drawings.

How do you read a utility patent drawing?

Patent drawings are read similarly to a diagram in a text book.
For a patent application, there is a section called a “brief description of the several views of the drawing(s),” which gives a one or two sentence description of each main figure in the drawings.
Each element, or part, within the drawings will have a number (reference character) and line (lead line) to that element.
Throughout the “detailed description of the invention,” which is the written out explanation of the invention (the paragraphs), when an element is written about the corresponding number in the drawings pointing to that element will be directly after the element in the written out explanation.

What are utility patent drawing requirements?

Generally, patent drawings should have the following qualities:

Black and white (black lines)
Clear (not fuzzy as if photocopied multiple times)
Room around the drawing on each sheet as a unused margin (on an 8 and ½ inches by 11 inches sheet, the margins should be at least: top (1 inch), left (1 inch), right (5/8 inch), bottom (3/8 inch)
Page numbers on each sheet at the top of the sheet (not in the margin) in the middle, with 2 numbers X – X (the number of the drawing sheet – the total number of was drawing sheets; ex. 1 – 5, 2 – 5, … 5 – 5).
Figures numbered with FIG. then an Arabic number (FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3 …). FIG. number and capital letter is for partial views which combine for a complete view (FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C …)
A reference character (a number) for each element mentioned in the description. A line (straight or curved) goes from the reference character to the element. The line is called a lead line. The lead lines should not cross each other. Each reference character should be at least 1/8 inches high.

What are the MPEP utility patent drawing requirements?

Patent drawing requirements are explained in MPEP 608.02.

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Law Office of John B. Hudak, PLLC

An intellectual property law firm: patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

Utility Patent Drawings Explained

Are utility patent drawings required?

Do provisional patent applications require drawings?

How many drawings can a utility patent have?

How important are utility patent drawings?

How do you read a utility patent drawing?

What are utility patent drawing requirements?

What are the MPEP utility patent drawing requirements?

Extra Resources for Understanding Utility Patent Drawings

Government Resources

Law Office of John B. Hudak, PLLC

An intellectual property law firm: patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

Utility Patent Drawings Explained

Are utility patent drawings required?

Do provisional patent applications require drawings?

How many drawings can a utility patent have?

How important are utility patent drawings?

How do you read a utility patent drawing?

What are utility patent drawing requirements?

What are the MPEP utility patent drawing requirements?

Extra Resources for Understanding Utility Patent Drawings

Government Resources

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