507 Drawing Review in the Office of Patent Application Processing
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The Office of Patent Application Processing (OPAP) performs an initial review of drawings in new utility and plant patent applications
If the drawings are not acceptable, OPAP will object to the drawings and notify applicant that a timely submission of acceptable drawings (e.g., drawings which can be scanned) is required.
OPAP may object to and require corrected drawings within a set time period, if the drawings:
- have a line quality that is too light to be reproduced (weight of all lines and letters must be heavy enough to permit adequate reproduction) or text that is illegible (reference characters, sheet numbers, and view numbers must be plain and legible).
- have missing lead lines. Lead lines are those lines between the reference characters and the details referred to;
- contain excessive text or text that is not in English (including, for example, a flow chart that was originally not in English that has been marked up to include the English text).
- do not have the appropriate margin or are not on the correct size paper.
- have more than one figure and each figure is not labeled “Fig.” With a consecutive Arabic numeral (1, 2, etc.) or an Arabic numeral and capital letter in the English alphabet (A, B, etc.).
- include photographs of the claimed invention which are capable of illustration by other medium such as ink drawings, and which are illegible after scanning.
- contain color drawings or color photographs, but not a petition to accept color drawings/photographs.
If OPAP objects to the drawings and sends applicant a Notice requiring submission of corrected drawings within a set time period (usually two months), corrected drawings must be filed, in paper, along with any other items required by OPAP, to avoid abandonment of the application.
- No fee will be necessary for filing corrected drawings which are required by OPAP.
