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December 25, 2011

The Art of the Patent

A patent disclosure often describes the drawings, which are required "where necessary for the understanding of the subject matter sought to be patented." 35 U.S.C. 113. Kevin Price celebrates the art form in The Art of the Patent. The book is a nicely done picture book, and well thought out, though slight. The text is juvenille, written for junior high school level, both in content and gee-whiz attitude. The opportunity to explain the craft of patent illustration is foregone. This would have been a much better book with more maturity, and truer appreciation of skill by exposition, rather than mere illustration. That might have made the book a reference worth returning to, rather than something consumed in a sitting or two, and then left on the shelf. That said, it is the perfect book for the lobby coffee table of a patent prosecution firm. Perhaps that was the target audience all along.

Posted by Patent Hawk at December 25, 2011 11:43 AM | Prosecution