Patent Drawings are the easiest visual form of understanding an invention. These help in knowing the invention in detail. These are further classified as; Design and Utility.

A Design patent exclusively protects the appearance of the product but not the functionality of it, while, a Utility patent protects the application and functionality of the product.

As per the Patent law, the design patents are granted to any new, original, appearance of the product. Typically, the Design patent application must have only a single claim. Apart from the basic design application, there are other types which cannot be supported just by a single claim. These include

TYPE I: Firstly, it is the independent and distinct design; this cannot have a single claim and it is required to be filed separately. For example, if an inventor has more than one product which is not dependent on each other, in the terms of appearance or usage, cannot be filed in the same application, like, for basic understanding let us consider a pen and a stapler, these two products are unrelated in respect of appearance so they ought to be filed separately.

TYPE II: This includes products which are related but are distinct with different appearances, for example, two bracelets with different surface appearances should be filed separately, and

TYPE III: The third one being modified forms of single design which may be applied in a single application, for example, a recliner having different seating positions.

Why does a patent application require drawings?? This can be best explained with an example; when an inventor having no idea about the patent drawings might prefer a photograph of the product than the drawings to be submitted to the Patent office, however, patent drawings easily explain about the product than its description and photograph.

Further, to strengthen an invention application, the drawings submitted must be more clear and accurate which also aids in describing about the claims. Moreover, to avoid any office action and infringement of the invention, precise drawings are necessary to be filed in an application. In order to this, patent drawings should not be sketched just to meet the requirements of the invention but to disclose the invention unambiguously. This requires a professional skilled patent draftsman who has the knowledge not only about the technical terms but also what the patent office actually demands in the drawings.

A skilled Patent Draftsman is equally important for a Patent Application. An inventor cannot formalize the patent drawings all by himself as per the USPTO guidelines. Formulating good drawings requires expertise and creativity. The draftsmen have a detailed knowledge about the requirements for filing the patent drawings in different jurisdictions. The Ornamental design of a product can be best described with the help of Patent drawings. It requires more expertise and attention to give the intricate details of the design. The drawings should be done in such a degree wherein the examiner can understand the design clearly just by looking at the drawings.

Ultimately, it can be stated that a patent application may be granted in one country and rejected in another, but, an application with the best drawings can be a good one for the justification of the invention. Good Illustrator makes Good drawings which in turn make the best patent.