Help Available for Labelling Your Drawings PATENT DRAWING LABELLING Now that you have had your patent drawings completed by the patent illustrator, the next step is to label your drawing. "Label the drawing? What is that?" I get this from inventors all the time. In this chapter we will discuss what is the purpose of adding reference lines and numbers on a drawing, and how a well labeled drawing can help you write a good provisional patent specification. We will also show you how to label your drawing yourself. Why Label Your Drawing? Labelling the drawing is one of the most important part of preparing your patent application. Many inventors do not know why the drawings are labelled. When you send your invention document to the patent office, you will not be there to explain the details of your invention, you will not be able to pull your invention apart and explain how things will work. The drawing, the reference numbers and your written explanation will do the explaining for you. Therefore, what you explain is very important. Think about it like this: Provisional and Non-Provisional Patent drawings are created to be explained. The explanation of the invention is in the drawing. The drawings can only be explained properly by use of reference numbers and lines. The reference numbers are names of parts of the invention and the reference lines can be compared to your finger pointing to the parts you are explaining. If the drawing is not properly labelled it cannot be explained properly. If the drawing is not explained properly the strength of the invention will be weak. After a drawing is filed, you cannot come back to explain something new or something you forgot to mention. How to make sure your drawing is properly labeled?What if you don't know how to label a drawing? Many inventors offer to pay us to simply help label their drawings. Labelling the drawings can be very expensive because it takes time and good arrangement. Fortunately for you, you don't have to worry. The book will guide you in every step of the way. It explains the details of labelling your own drawing in an easy to follow way. If you still feel you will need help after reading this book, you can always ask the author of the book at ASCADEX for assistance. Let's begin by first pointing out the wrong way to label a drawing. Knowing the wrong way and why it is wrong will help you understand how to label your drawings the right way. When preparing their application, both the inventor and the patent attorney rely on the patent illustrator for good drawings that will bring out the invention. The difference between the two is that the attorney will label his drawing better than the inventor would, which will lead to better explanation on the part of the patent attorney. Take for example the example drawing (EX-1) shown in this book. As a patent illustrator, as soon as I learn that an inventor will be preparing his own application I usually make it my personal responsibility to guide them on the right path. I will try my best to produce the best drawing for my inventor clients with the hope that like the patent attorney, they would know how to label the drawings after it is completed. I sometimes include extra drawings without charge that I think they may need to help make their application stronger. After preparing all the wonderful drawings and emailed them to the inventor as shown in example drawing (EX-1) to be labelled, some inventors may label their drawing like what is shown in image (EX-2) below.