Although in the last few years U.S. patent applications have been
available from the USPTO, certainly before 1977 they were held in
confidence and therefore not "published" by the USPTO. One does have to
wonder how widely distributed in the U.S. were foreign patent
applications. ISTM that it is certainly possible that the secondary
distribution in the U.S. might have been broad enough to count as
domestic publication.
Of course any protection available under copyright would be limited by the merger doctrine.
-----Original Message-----
From: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property
[mailto:CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org] On Behalf Of Jeffrey S. Ankrom
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2006 8:15 PM
To: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property
Subject: [CNI-(C)] Re: Are patent drawings public domain?
Copyright Office Regulations 1, in Nimmer (8-11 Nimmer on Copyright Scope):
Section 202.12(c): "A claim to copyright in a scientific or technical drawing, otherwise registrable in Class I, will not be refused registration solely by reason of the fact that it is known to form a part of a pending patent application. Where the patent has been issued, however, the claim to copyright in the drawing will be denied copyright registration."
(At the website of the Copyright Office, one gets the impression that the item from Nimmer would match 37 C.F.R. Sect. 202.12(c). Not so, and too great a mystery for me this close to midnight.)
At 202.10(a), patentability of the item depicted does not affect copyrightability of the drawing.
Copyright notice may appear with drawings in patent applications. (37 C.F.R. Sect. 1.84(s).)
In short, patent drawings are not necessarily available for use without permission. The entity filing the patent application would not necessarily hold the rights to the drawing(s). (To make things worse, are patent drawings *published*--in terms of copyright law--when the patent application is filed? It would seem otherwise. It would appear that even drawings from pre-1923 patent applications could be protected, though I would be pleased to be persuaded that they are in the public domain.)
Jeffrey S. Ankrom
BERRY & DOMER
701 North Walnut Street
Bloomington, IN 47404-3848
Tel. (888) 334-9050
>> 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
>>
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Visit the CNI-COPYRIGHT e-mail list archive at <https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>. Received on Mon Apr 24 2006 - 23:25:01 GMT
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