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What Is Docketing in a Law Firm? IP Workflow and Benefits

Docketing in a law firm is the process of recording and monitoring matter-related events, deadlines and assigned tasks. For an intellectual property practice, it connects patent and trademark correspondence with the people responsible for reviewing and acting on it. Software stores the docket; a controlled workflow keeps the records usable.

What Is Docketing in a Law Firm?

A docket identifies the matter, source document, relevant event, due date, task owner and completion evidence. Teams use it to plan work, monitor upcoming actions and escalate exceptions. IP docketing covers application and registration-related events; other practice areas have their own procedures and requirements.

How Docketing Supports Efficiency

A shared record reduces repeated searches through email and separate calendars. Consistent identifiers help staff locate the right application and correspondence. Task assignment and reports make handovers clearer, including during absences or changes in personnel.

These benefits depend on accurate intake and review. Automated reminders cannot correct a wrong source date or an incorrectly matched matter without intervention. Avoid assuming that software guarantees timely filings, lower fees or faster examination by a patent office.

A Practical Intake and Review Process

Collect complete correspondence through an agreed intake channel. Match it to the correct matter, identify the event and record its source. Check applicable procedures, calculate or confirm the deadline, assign responsibility and obtain the required independent review.

Keep an exception queue for unclear instructions, missing documents or inconsistent records. Escalate urgent items through named contacts. Record the evidence supporting completion before closing a task, and retain the history of any corrections.

Access, Reporting and Continuity

Grant access according to job responsibilities and confidentiality arrangements. Agree on backup coverage, reminders and reporting frequency. A useful report separates approaching deadlines, overdue internal tasks and items awaiting instructions so that reviewers can prioritize action.

Review access when roles change and test record export and handover procedures. Security depends on the chosen configuration and operating controls; it should be assessed rather than inferred from a product label.

Planning Outsourced Docketing Support

Define the portfolio, jurisdictions, software, workload and acceptance criteria. Compare onboarding, reviewer effort, software access and recurring service cost in a scoped quote. Use a pilot to assess accuracy, response time, exceptions and reviewer workload before increasing volume.

Read about the IP docketing specialist’s role and our software selection checklist. Contact Menteso to discuss docketing support and a review workflow suited to your firm.

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Patent Drawing

How to Avoid Patent Drawing Rejection?

Patent drawings are a crucial part of the patent application, and if you don’t know why they are so important, you can consider checking out our article on the same topic by clicking here. Many applicants ignore the importance of patent drawings in their application and end up paying the extra charges after the rejection of the drawings to submit them again. But why do you need to pay that extra charge? You can avoid such an event by avoiding the rejection of your patent drawings. That’s the only approach smart people will take as it does not only save you money, but you also save the most precious thing in the world, which is time. 

There is no single way that can avoid the rejection of patent drawings in the first place as there is no shortcut to it. When you are filing a patent, your expectations from the patent are for the long term, and the shortcuts are not the right approach here. You must give proper attention to all the aspects of your patent application. Even a small mistake can lead to misinterpretation, which can give the competitors a chance to use loopholes in your patents. The same applies to your patent drawings as it is a source to visualize your invention. You can be as detailed and as accurate as it can get to avoid any unfavourable situation. 

Follow the USPTO guidelines

The first thing that you can never miss while filing a patent application in the United States is following all the rules stated by the USPTO for patent drawings. The USPTO and all other patent offices around the globe have already released a set of rules that you need to follow while making the patent drawings. These rules are very detailed and cover various aspects if you follow them properly. Even missing out on a small detail can lead to rejection of the drawing. You can find the complete USPTO patent drawing guideline by visiting the official USPTO website. You can also download our free eBook that compiles all the rules related to patent drawings by the USPTO, which makes your job even easier. 

Follow the deadlines

Not following the deadlines is another obvious reason for rejection. But following the deadlines do not only mean that you need to submit the drawings on the date. You need to have some time in hand when you are done with the drawing process. You can try to get the drawing done at least 2 to 3 days prior to the deadline so that you have enough time to examine it with the guidelines and other factors. You should also not wait for the last day to submit the drawings and try submitting a couple of days prior to the final date if you can. 

Hire a professional patent drawing expert

You can avoid all these hassles and get everything done with the utmost efficiency by simply hiring a professional illustrator. You can contact a reliable firm like the Patent Drawing Experts to get the patent drawings done. It will save you all the stress and money that you would have to spend if the drawing gets rejected. The professional illustrators already understand the updated rules and guidelines by the USPTO and other respective patent offices. They know what to include and what not to include in your patent application. They also know all the different views that are required in case of your invention.  

Professional patent drawing is not that expensive, considering the time and money they save for you. The patent drawing prices start from as low as $29 per sheet when you buy patent drawing services from the Patent Drawing Experts. We take care of every single aspect that it takes to get your patent drawings approved. Our expert illustrators work to coordinate with you to understand your invention and make drawings that do not only just follow the USPTO guidelines but is also competent in other aspects. 

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Patent Drawing

Top Quality Patent Drawings Services Do Not Have To Cost More

Patent illustrations are a fundamental part of any patent application. Consequently, you should know how much the Patent Drawings Cost. The inaccurate patent drawings cost you more for improvements. If you don’t know the basics of patent drawings, you may suffer patent rights as well. Patent drawings are multiple views of innovation. These views help the USPTO examiner comprehend the innovation thoroughly. Usually, candidates add as many views as they can in their patent applications. The patent drawings include every claim which you have specified in your patent application. Moreover, the cost of patent drawings solely depends on innovation. If innovation isn’t complex, it may not cost much. However, if an innovation has various functionalities, it may cost much. 

Make The Patent Drawings that Cost You, Less

Patent drawings help in understanding innovations better. Hence, you need to cover various views of your innovation in your patent application. An expert patent illustrator can make your rough sketch into a detailed patent illustration. No matter how complicated your innovation is, you can always rely on a good patent illustrator. Nevertheless, it’s not mandatory to hire a patent illustrator. You can also create patent drawings on your own. Hence, your patent drawings cost you zero. The following are the ways that may reduce the price of the patent drawings:

1. Creating patent drawings by yourself 

You can create your patent drawings if you know the USPTO’s policies, patent drawing rules, and specifications. You can get the following advantages if you make your patent drawings:

  • More accurate presentation of patent drawings than hired experts as you know what you want to depict better than anyone else.
  • Save time in explaining to someone else about the innovation, or sending patent drawings back and forth for corrections.
  • Save money by cutting all the charges of any hired professional.

While this option might save financial advantages for you, however sometimes cutting your pocket by not hiring a professional draftsperson is an unnecessary step. It is even possible that the innovator holds insignificant knowledge about the specifications which deteriorate its quality and delay its submission.

Some candidates may want to be included in the complete process of patent filing. As a result, they may prefer a patent drawing the views of the innovation on their own. It’s not impossible to draw patent illustrations. However, this approach isn’t recommended unless you’re good at patent drawings. If you’re not good at creating patent drawings, you can learn. Check out the list of some software that you can use to create patent drawings.

  • SmartDraw
  • CorelDraw
  • LibreOffice Draw
  • DraftSight
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • FreeCAD
  • Microsoft Visio
  • AutoCAD

2. Hiring a professional patent illustrator

Hiring an expert patent illustrator signifies that you are required to pay for the service. Therefore, do your research before hiring one. There are various patent firms that provide samples of their work beforehand. You can see their samples and judge whether to hire a patent firm or not. Nevertheless, you can decrease the cost of your patent drawings even if you hire someone. For this, you should consider the following things:

1. Provide the complete information of your invention beforehand.

2. Provide the prototype of your invention (if possible).

3. Hire an illustrator only when all the changes in the invention are completed.

Learning to make patent drawings from scratch is a lengthy process. You may want to hire experienced patent illustrators that work in compliance with the USPTO guidelines. The USPTO takes patent drawing guidelines or rules strictly. If your patent drawing doesn’t follow the rules, the USPTO may reject your application.

Rather than creating self-explanatory drawings by yourself and putting your drawings at risk by leaving quality issues behind, it’s better to think of some other ways of cost-cutting. 

Various Factors that can influence the cost of patent drawings

For instance, you want a patent drawing as quickly as time permits. Accordingly, you need to pay extra to get the patent drawing fast. However, you can keep away from these factors if you have in-depth knowledge of patent drawings. Major factors that may increase the cost are:

1. The complexity of patent drawings

This factor plays a significant role in determining the cost of patent drawings. If an innovation has several functionalities, a patent illustrator is required to comprehend all functionalities. Therefore, it may increase the cost of patent drawings since it may take time to comprehend the innovation.

2. Fast or Express Service

In a rush to get a patent, numerous candidates wish to utilize express assistance. A patent illustrator may provide you fast assistance. Nonetheless, he may charge you extra for this. Hence, it’s more beneficial to get the patent drawings earlier. Else, you need to pay more for fast assistance.

3. Revisions or iterations

Sometimes, you’re not satisfied with patent drawings and need to add some more details. Accordingly, you need to pay more. The patent illustrator will do all the referenced changes. Any extremely late changes can make you pay more. Consequently, provide the complete details of the innovation to the illustrator.

What Do the Patent Drawings Cost You?

The average value of each patent drawing is between $60 and $90. Additionally, the cost of the drawings of utility or design patents relies on the complexity of the patent drawings. The simple patent drawings charge you around $45 per figure. However, the cost may rise above $100 per figure if the drawing is complicated.

Conclusion

Preparing patent drawings as per USPTO specifications and the innovation requirements is an intimidating and nerve-wracking task. Well, it is okay to believe some third-party patent illustrator to create patent drawings for your patent that could do full justification for what you want. You can also create your patent drawings. Moreover, cutting out costs by doing the patent drawings yourself, is a good option through which you can save much money on patent drawings without deteriorating their quality.