Without Internal Capability
Source Material
↓
Instructions
↓
Drafting Handoff
↓
Review
↓
Revision Handoff
↓
Final Figures
Patent-Figure Capability for Law Firms
What does patent-figure capability look like inside a law firm?
It means attorneys, support professionals, inventors, and outside drafting resources can work with patent figures more directly throughout the patent process — instead of treating drawings as a separate production step at the end.
One Working Process
01
Inventor
02
Attorney
03
Support
04
Patent Figures
One editable patent-figure workflow.
The Difference
Patent figures stop being a handoff at the end.
In a conventional workflow, visual information may move through sketches, screenshots, marked-up PDFs, emails, drafting instructions, vendor revisions, and new file versions before a final figure is ready.
With patent-figure capability inside the firm, working figures can become part of the patent-development process itself.
With Internal Capability
Source Material
↓
Editable Working Figures
↓
Drafting + Collaboration
↓
Formalization
↓
Final Figures
The figure becomes a working patent document — not merely a deliverable ordered from someone else.
01 — Inventor → Attorney
Start with better visual information.
Inventors do not need to become patent illustrators. But better visual capability can help them communicate the invention more clearly from the beginning.
That gives counsel better source material, clearer visual context, and a stronger starting point for developing the application.
Prepare
Better source material
Provide clearer sketches, screenshots, photographs, CAD references, diagrams, and other visual information.
Formulate
Working figures
Where appropriate, begin organizing concepts into editable diagrams instead of communicating everything through prose and disconnected source material.
Collaborate
Work visually with counsel
Review the same visual representation, discuss changes, and refine what the figures need to communicate.
Better visual input gives the attorney a better starting point.
02 — Patent Development
Figures can develop with the patent — not after it.
Working figures can become part of the attorney's thinking while claims, disclosure, and the structure of the application are still developing.
Instead of waiting until the substantive work is complete, visual development can happen alongside it.
Develop
Claims
Develop
Figures
Case Intake
Understand visually
Use visual information to understand the invention and identify what needs to be shown.
Interactive Drafting
Develop figures while drafting
Formulate and revise working figures while claims and disclosure are taking shape.
Inventor Communication
Discuss the invention visually
Use working figures to discuss structure, relationships, changes, and missing information with the inventor.
Figures become part of thinking through the patent — not simply illustrating it afterward.
03 — Everyday Figure Work
Not every change needs another handoff.
Attorneys and patent agents do not need to become professional patent illustrators to benefit from direct access to editable working figures.
Routine visual work can often remain close to the people who understand the substantive change.
Add or adjust reference numbers, labels, leaders, and other annotations.
Move, remove, replace, or adjust elements as the application develops.
Make more effective use of existing visual source material.
Handle appropriate simple figures directly when doing so makes sense.
Routine figure work no longer has to leave the attorney's hands simply because the file cannot be edited.
04 — Attorney → Support
Hand off editable work — not drawing instructions.
The attorney can formulate the substance of the figure while support professionals focus on formalization, consistency, and preparation.
The handoff can happen through the working figure itself rather than another layer of screenshots, markups, emails, or written drawing instructions.
Attorney / Agent
FormulateRevise
Annotate
Shared
Editable Working File
Support Professional
FormalizeStandardize
Prepare
The handoff becomes continuation of the work — not recreation of the work.
05 — Attorney + Inventor
Keep the inventor inside the visual feedback loop.
Working figures give attorney and inventor something concrete to discuss as the application develops.
Instead of repeatedly translating visual changes through prose, both sides can review and refine the same visual representation.
Attorney / Agent
Review + Formulate
Shared
Working Figure
Inventor
Review + Clarify
When everyone is discussing the same visual representation, fewer ideas have to be translated through words alone.
06 — Internal + External
Internal capability does not mean internal-only.
A law firm does not need to bring every patent drawing inside the firm to benefit from internal capability.
Routine and appropriate work can stay internal while complex, specialized, or production-intensive work continues to go to experienced drafting resources.
Routine / Appropriate Work
Law Firm+
Complex / Specialized Work
Drafting Resource→
Together
One Figure Set
The objective isn't to eliminate outsourcing. It is to outsource deliberately.
07 — Through Prosecution
Capability remains useful after filing.
Patent-figure work does not necessarily end when the application is filed.
When prosecution requires an appropriate figure adjustment, annotation change, correction, or other revision, the firm already has the working files, tools, and capability available to respond.
01
Application
→02
Prosecution
→03
Office Action
→04
Figure Revision
The working figure capability stays with the matter throughout prosecution.
What Changes for the Firm?
A more continuous patent-figure workflow.
The value is not simply that more drawings can be made internally. The larger change is how visual work moves through the firm.
Routine changes can remain inside the working process.
People who understand the substantive change can make or communicate it more directly.
Inventor and client materials can become part of the working figure process.
Professional drafting resources can focus on work where they add the most value.
Shared tools, templates, workflows, and editable files create a more repeatable approach.
New participants can enter an established figure workflow instead of developing their own methods from scratch.
Distributed Capability
No single person has to do everything.
Patent-figure capability does not mean assigning all patent drawings to one new person.
It means giving the people already involved in the patent process the level of visual capability appropriate to their role.
One Shared Patent-Figure Workflow
The Definition
So what is patent-figure capability inside a law firm?
Patent-figure capability is the firm's ability to prepare, formulate, review, revise, formalize, collaborate around, and professionally produce patent figures throughout the patent process — using the right people for each part of the work.
Better Input
→
Better Collaboration
→
Editable Working Figures
→
Efficient Internal Work + Professional Production
→
A More Continuous Patent Workflow
The goal isn't to bring every patent drawing inside the firm.
The goal is to stop being dependent on a handoff every time something visual needs to happen.Build the Capability
See how this could work inside your firm.
IP DaVinci provides the System, tools, learning environment, recurring live training and help, and professional support needed to introduce patent-figure capability progressively.
Explore the IP DaVinci Patent Figure System™ →Start Practically
01
Identify the people
02
Identify the capability
03
Introduce the System
Then
Expand when it makes sense.