Question about drawings and term in another embodiment.

[richard]

I think I like most people, want to sell my invention without having to deal with manufacturing and marketing. My invention lends itself very well as a stand alone product, or an accessory to a product that is already successfully marketed by a company in the US.  I have already signed a disclosure statement with them. I have a prototype made and had a graphics designer draw up some amazing full color 3d renderings. I’d been a bit skeptical of patents and their worth. Every good patent attorney knows that no matter how good a patent is, there is always a way around it, and if not, just rip it off, get to market before the patent holder drain the assets, then file for chapter 11 before they can come after you.

After reading about patents and provisional patents, I thought better of it, and decided I would go ahead and patent the product before showing it to the company.  So now I’m in the same boat as everyone else and trying to fill in the application.
 
I have two questions. (Finally!) With my lovely renderings, Im now wondering if they will be accepted, as it seems to state only black and white line drawings are accepted. How simple can the drawings be? Just something I hand sketch? I’m a pretty good draftsman, and the product is simple enough with only a few pieces to it.

Second question is about describing the product and the use of “in another embodiment.” For my product to go into production, it would need specific tooling for it to be formed in plastic. Do I need to specify the kind of plastic? And what about materials. It could be made in wood, so if I didn’t state “in another embodiment the design is in wood” does that mean someone can produce my same product but in another material that I didn’t specify? One part of my product requires the use of neoprene, but another rubber my work too. If I only say neoprene, does that mean someone can make my same product but use another type of rubber?

[Brad]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for your question.

While many people have been let down by the patent process and have been ripped off even with their patent, I have also seen it work out well for people too so not all patents are useless and in some industries a patent is almost essential.

In regards to your questions:

1) For the provisional application, you can include your 3D drawings.  Only the full non-provisional application needs the standard black and white line drawings.  If you look at some patents online, you can get a good feel for what these drawings are and what level of detail you must include.

2) If there is nothing really special about the material you are using, then you can just give a laundry list of materials that it could be made from.  For example, you may write that piece number 1 can preferably be made from A or B but could also be made from C, D, E, F, or any suitable material.

Unless your patent claims specifically state what material has to be used, then simply changing the material from A to B would not be enough to get around your patent.

Cheers
Brad

[Richardinventor]

Thanks Brad, that's great news on the drawings, and good info on the materials. I can see this being a very useful forum for so many people, thanks for getting it started.

I do have to say though, that the verification letters are really difficult, if not usually impossible to read. Ive had to try two or three times every time I use the site.

[Brad]

Thanks.  I will change this.  I had a lot of problem with spam so I made it extra hard to create a post here.