Are patent drawings public domain?

Got an interesting question today - are patent drawings filed with PTO and publicly available public domain, or does the person who filed the patent have a copyright interest in them? Say I wanted to use on as a book cover design?

Thanks,

Ed

Edward P. Richards
Director, Program in Law, Science, and Public Health Harvey A. Peltier Professor of Law
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-1000
richards[_at_]lsu.edu
http://biotech.law.lsu.edu
Phone: 225/578-7595
Fax: 225/578-5935 Received on Fri Apr 21 2006 - 01:55:02 GMT