RE: Re: Are patent drawings public domain?

From: Michael Graham <mgraham[_at_]marshallip.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 20:15:01 -0400

I see no basis for concluding that they are in the public domain. However, I would imagine their creation is accompanied by some implied license rights based on the manner in which such drawings are normally used.

This presumes, however, that the person who created the drawings is aware of the nature of use to which they are to be put. If they were created independently of, and without knowledge of or intent that they would be used to support a patent application, this conclusion would not hold up and their reproduction and use could constitute infringement of copyright in the original drawings.

Of interest in the example attached to Carl's e-mail is the use of the copyrighted image of Bart Simpson on the device, which I presume could itself be considered an infringement.

Michael R.

Michael R. Graham -- Ne Oublie
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP
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-----Original Message-----
From: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property [mailto:CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org] On Behalf Of Carl Oppedahl Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 5:41 PM
To: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property Subject: [CNI-(C)] Re: Are patent drawings public domain?

Richards, Ed wrote:

>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?
>
>

See for example http://pdfs.oppedahl.com/US/5530355.pdf .

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Received on Sat Apr 22 2006 - 04:15:01 GMT