Common Errors Found In Design Patent Drawing That Can Result in Office Actions

Patent Practitioners or agents must be familiar with the implication of patent errors in design patent applications. Errors in patent drawings can be a problem at any time, but they are especially problematic for design patents. It can be very costly to fix these patent errors in issued design patents, which are often leftover in a patent application, during its drafting or prosecution and can undoubtedly result in an office action. While filing a design patent application majority of errors occur due to insufficient disclosures in patent illustrations or drawings. Some of the design patent mistakes, for example, incorrect dependencies in patent claims, might significantly limit even the scope of the design patent application. These mistakes or errors invite office action from the patent examiner and rejections from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The results of the design patent mistakes in the multiple parts of a patent are different. 

Sometimes extra fees, delays of design patents, denial of patents, or invalidation of awarded design patents results due to errors in the patents. Therefore, it is very crucial, although a difficult task, to proofread patent applications to identify discrepancies in design patent claims and specifications, such as missing antecedent references, claim numbering, incorrect status indicators, or inconsistent numbering of the patent claims or more so that it cannot harm your design patent drawing applications. Since the patent drawing IS the disclosure for a design patent, errors are likely to lead to the patent office’s rejection of the application.

Before filing a patent, you should ensure the capabilities of the professional patent illustrator to avoid unwanted office actions that can dig a hole in your pocket.

What is office Action?

An Office action is written correspondence or letter from the patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issues to highlight design patent drawing application error that requires a properly signed written response from the patent applicant for the prosecution of the design patent application to continue. Design patent drawings must meet specific requirements as per the patent drawing guidelines provided by the USPTO. Moreover, the reply must be responsive to each ground of design patent rejection and design patent objection made by the patent examiner at USPTO.

Common Errors That are found in Design Patent and its Implications

If patent drawing applications are inconsistent, it also gets difficult to establish what a patent inventor is trying to patent. There are particular requirements that patent drawings for design patents must meet.

Let us discuss the common design patent drawing errors inconsistency to avoid office actions:

1. Failure to comply with drawing specifications: 

These specifications include some of the many very specific rules the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has for all patent drawings, applications including things such as the quality of the ink used in drawings and the size of the drawing paper and margins. The rules are very detailed. The best way to avoid rejections for failing to comply with the drawing specifications is to use a patent illustrator that has a lot of experience with patent drawings applications. 

2. Inconsistency in design patent drawing application:

If your design patent drawings are not consistent, then there is no way to determine what exactly it is that an inventor patenting. Design patent drawing must contain a sufficient number of views. These help to completely disclose the appearance of the claimed patent design. It must include front, rear, right, left sides, top, bottom, and perspective view of the patent design. These types of errors generally occur when the drawings or illustrations do not depict the parts of a proposed article in these views. Sometimes a patent application with inconsistent patent drawings will even make it through the patent office and be allowed, only to be found invalid in the event of a lawsuit.

3. Non-enablement of patent application:

One of the requirements for design patent drawings is that someone “skilled in the art” should be able to create the object by relying on the patent drawings in the disclosure.

4. Ambiguity in design patent application:

Ambiguity in patent applications may occur if you don’t have enough drawings. As with the non-enablement of the patent application, additional patent drawings could prevent rejections for ambiguity.

Benefits of error-free design patent Drawings Applications

Accurate and clear patent drawings strengthen and enhance your patent drawing applications and help patent examiners at US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) who are already overburdened with the patent applications to understand your patent inventions faster. Getting the patent drawing applications correct in the very first go saves the efforts put in by the patent illustrator or patent practitioner. Error-free design patent drawings also reduce the cost of acquiring a patent, delays, denial of patent, or invalidation of awarded patents, and more. 

Conclusion:

Errors in the patent drawing application might prove fatal and bring uninvited trouble to the owner of the patent application. To avoid such unpleasant circumstances proofreading a granted patent or a patent application becomes inevitable. One of the best ways to avoid problems with rejected patent drawings is to use an experienced patent illustrator, such as Invention Patent Drawings, to create your patent drawings.