How to do a 'Design Patent' drawing in Xara - any advice?

[shiphen]

Hello

I need to create some line drawings for a Design Patent in the USA and a Design Registration for the EU. (Note that this is not for a Utility Patent.)

Have any of you good folks done this?

If so, I have some question for you.

[Background: I have a SolidWorks 3D CAD design from which I have successfully been exporting lines drawings into Xara (via PDF format).]

1. Am I correct in thinking that the maximum resolution is 5000x5000 pixels? That sounds very high..

2. My drawings look very exact and computer-generated. Is there any easy way to convert my line drawing into a "wobbly hand" drawing to make it look less precise and more hand-drawn?

3. Do all the lines in a Design Patent need to be the same thickness?
(e.g. There is a convention amongst designers to put a thicker line around each separate part. It certainly helps make line drawings become clearer, but is this allowed?)

4. How can I create a 'stippling' effect in Xara?

5. By default my SolidWorks drawings show the "tangency lines"
i.e. the lines show where a face changes it curvature.

Any thoughts/other advice?

With thanks

J

[handrawn]

maximum resolution of what? - the drawings? if so that's about 210mm at 600dpi [420 mm at 300dpi], which is not particularly high I would have thoiught when I think of blueprints for example

I have never done this though; only had some passing direct experience with cartography, not really the same thing - is there not help on the governmental websites?

My drawings look very exact and computer-generated. Is there any easy way to convert my line drawing into a "wobbly hand" drawing to make it look less precise and more hand-drawn?

LOL

... sorry, when I think of the blood I and others sweat to make handrawn lines not look wobbly - seriously why would you want to do this ?

[wizard509]

4. How can I create a 'stippling' effect in Xara?

J

I have often wondered the same thing but as far as I know iit's not possible.

[gwpriester]

I could be wrong but I suspect there is all the information you need at the US Patent Office website.

Stipple, as for a fill? If so you can look for black and white textures in stock image resources. I licensed a whole collection from Shutterstock.com after I did a search for black and white tiling patterns. You can set the bitmap to Repeating Tiling, then copy the pattern. Select the object you want to fill and Edit > Paste > Paste Attributes. The size and rotation of the fill can be edited with the Fill Tool.

Xara has Line Stroke Shapes and Pressure Profiles. These can be used to create uneven lines. The options are very limited but it can be done.

[handrawn]

it is the way of the world that the UK[post-brexit]/EU/US authorities are unlikely be in 100% harmony in their requirements, but they should all have websites

EDIT - I don't know about US, but this side Design Registration is not the same thing as Patent, at the very least different paperwork....

https://www.gov.uk/register-a-design

[Jonopen]

I’ve not prepared drawings for patent submission myself, but out of interest I spent 10 minutes or so looking online at patent office design rules for drawings. (there are quite a few rules!)

I didn’t notice anywhere the requirement for the drawings to have a hand drawn aesthetic. The focus really is on clarity, and following the rules for margins, labelling, views etc.

A couple of websites I looked at:

https://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/patent-basics/types-patent-applications/design-patent-application-guide

https://www.gov.uk/register-a-design...-illustrations

There were no rules (as far as I can see) about line thicknesses, “Lines and strokes of different thicknesses may be used in the same drawing where different thicknesses have a different meaning.”

Good luck with your patent invention and keep us all posted.

[handrawn]

so what we call design registartion here, the US calls a design patent... which is not the same thing as a utility patent, as said, which is what we call a patent... ?

straight away the lines diverge...

yes good luck I hope it all goes well too, and you find your way through the maze

[I have enough trouble getting my head round the idea of measuring say bread flour in a 'cup' which is volumetric and therefore the result is dependant on milling and packing of the dry product... ]

[shiphen]

Thanks for all your comments.

Yes, a "registered design" is called a "design patent" in the US.
I have firmly been advised to use "line drawings" not CAD renderings/photographs and certainly not colour.

RESOLUTION
Handrawn
210mm ==> 8.26772inches, x600DPI ==> 4960 dots (i.e. pixels).

That seems extremely high resolution. What I have noticed is that a lot of design patents even from companies with deep pockets (e.g. Apple Inc.) are rather low resolution and highly pixelated.


WOBBLY-LINES
I get the strong feeling that they are drawn by hand (irony of "handrawn" 's name noted!) because if one only means ROUGHLY this or that shape, drawing it too precisely using an exact CAD/ computer-generated line has the wrong impact.

i.e. There is great power in creating a drawing with slightly wobbly lines to communicate that you mean "roughly" this shape, rather than precisely this shape.

SHADING RULES
Line drawings for design registration also seems like a very dark art because from what I can see, in the US it seems that you MUST apply some sort of (limited) shading or stippling to indicated a 3D shape, whereas in the UK must not include any shading. [But this may be incorrect??]

STIPPLING
Stippling seems horribly labour-intensive and possibly out-of-date(??). The problem with it is that it needs to be of variable density. And don't think that you are allowed to use transparency. Greys are not permitted in line drawings.


BROKEN LINES
Broken lines have a very specific meaning in US patents at least. "A broken line disclosure is understood to be for illustrative purposes only and forms no part of the claimed design."


e.g. Here are some classic line drawings that the US patent office says are good examples.







See how rough and jagged they are. I'm just not sure how one would generate anything like them using Xara!

OR maybe these illustrations are just badly out-of-date??

J

[rsrsrs]

hi,

https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+touch+patent

and pictures.

they look very simple.

buuuuut expensive.

[handrawn]

ok I can see a rationale, and it is this - to be represenative, the drawings must be 'artistic'; in other words the designs must not just be schematically represented in geometric terms, they must also give a feel for what they look like in the real word; the examples you have shown all give that feel, and if you are limited to pure black/white only, then stippling is one way to give a representation of depth [there are others such as cross-hatching, but there is sense in limiting it to just one]

it's difficult to see how you could convert to this sort of effect other than by using your exports a s a base and redrawing using [digital] brushes and effects

but without seeing anything cannot be sure