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Patent Issued With Extra Drawings
bhughs's Avatar
Robert Hughes
bhughs

I have recently had a patent issued. I started out with an attorney and after the first office action I took the case over myself to save money and because all the claims were rejected and I thought the likelihood of issuing was slim. I went through 4 office actions and some dialog with the examiner.
When I received the issued patent, it was exactly what the examiner and I had agreed on with one exception. I had begun with 7 drawings and during the exam process I had reduced the number of drawings to 4 because most of what was illustrated in the last 3 drawings was related to claims that were rejected. The problem is that the USPTO printed all 7 drawings in the final patent document. Only the first 4 are relevant.

Being new at this, I am not sure what i should do. I am considering leaving it as issued because of the hassle of changing anything. However, i worry that the patent doesn’t really make sense as issued because nothing in the last 3 drawings are described in the description and there are many feature identification numbers that are never referenced. Can anyone advise me of the pros and cons of leaving such an error alone vs going through the process of having it corrected.

posted February 09, 2010 18:54 (
)

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frankthetank's Avatar
Brad F
frankthetank

This is very normal and happens all the time. Do not worry about it. Its definitely not worth the time or money to try and remove figures. In fact, I think that’s a bad idea for legal reasons too.

posted February 18, 2010 08:56 (
)
donkelly's Avatar
Don Kelly
donkelly

If the USPTO was at fault, you may be able to get the patent reprinted. A certificate of correction could clarify the document, but would not actually remove the inappropriately included drawings.
Don Kelly

posted February 19, 2010 06:02 (
)
bhughs's Avatar
Robert Hughes
bhughs

Thanks Guys, I will let it ride.

posted March 07, 2010 11:52 (
)
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