Hong Kong Regulations

PATENTS (GENERAL) RULES - SECT 60

Drawings

(1) (a) Drawings forming part of an application for a short-term patent shall
be on sheets the usable service area of which shall not exceed 26.2 cm x 17
cm.

   (b)  The sheets shall not contain frames round the usable or used surface.

   (c)  The minimum margins shall be as follows- top 2.5 cm left side 2.5 cm
        right side 1.5 cm bottom 1.0 cm

(2) Drawings shall be executed as follows-

   (a)  without colouring in durable, black, sufficiently dense and dark,
        uniformly thick and well-defined lines and strokes to permit
        satisfactory reproduction;

   (b)  cross-sections shall be indicated by hatching which does not impede
        the clear reading of the reference signs and leading lines;

   (c)  the scale of the drawings and the distinctness of their graphical
        execution shall be such that a photographic reproduction with a linear
        reduction in size to two-thirds would enable all details to be
        distinguished without difficulty; and that if, as an exception, the
        scale is given on a drawing, it shall be represented graphically;

   (d)  all numbers, letters, and reference signs, appearing on the drawing
        shall be simple and clear and brackets, circles and inverted commas
        shall not be used in association with numbers, letters and characters;

   (e)  all lines in the drawings shall, ordinarily, be drawn with the aid of
        drafting instruments;

   (f)  elements of the same figure shall be in proportion to each other,
        unless a difference in proportion is indispensable for the clarity of
        the figure;

   (g)  the height of the numbers, letters and characters shall be not less
        than 0.32 cm and for the lettering of drawings, the Latin and, where
        customary, the Greek alphabets or Chinese characters, as appropriate,
        shall be used;

   (h)  where the same sheet of drawings contains several figures, the
        different figures shall be arranged without wasting space, clearly
        separated from one another; and the different figures shall be
        numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals, independently of the
        numbering of the sheets;

   (i)  where figures drawn on 2 or more sheets are intended to form one whole
        figure, the figures on the several sheets shall be so arranged that
        the whole figure can be assembled without concealing any part of the
        partial figures;

   (j)  reference signs not mentioned in the description and claims shall not
        appear in the drawings, and vice versa; and the same features, when
        denoted by reference signs, shall, throughout the application, be
        denoted by the same signs;

   (k)  the drawings shall not contain textual matter, except, when required
        for the understanding of the drawings, a single word or words such as,

"water", "steam", "open", "close", "section on AA" or the equivalent Chinese
characters, as appropriate, and, in the case of electric circuits and block
schematic or flow sheet diagrams, a few short catchwords or the equivalent
Chinese characters, as appropriate, indispensable for understanding; and any
such words or characters shall be placed in such a way that, if required, they
can be replaced by their translations without interfering with any lines of
the drawings;

   (l)  the sheets of the drawings shall be numbered in accordance with
        section 62.

(3) Flow sheets and diagrams shall be considered to be drawings for the
purposes of these Rules.