Is it legally allowed to use images, which are obtained from patent forms, possibly with modifying/coloring them or left as is, inside youtube videos? In the same vein with images how about the text i.e., are patent description texts in the public domain so that the patent description can be contained in a video?
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The government's position is that material in the patent documents is generally in the public domain
See Public Domain Copyright Trademark & Patent Information Schedule:
As part of the terms of granting the patent to the inventor, patents are published into the public domain.
And slightly more specific, see Terms of Use for USPTO websites: Patents:
Subject to limited exceptions reflected in 37 CFR 1.71(d) & (e) and 1.84(s), the text and drawings of a patent are typically not subject to copyright restrictions.
1.71(d) allows for the patent author to specifically indicate that some of the material is protected by copyright.
But that position has not actually been tested in courts
However, there is no actual statute explicitly exempting material in the patent documents from copyright nor any case law holding that in the absence of a notice, the material in fact becomes public domain. See Alderucci, "The surprising consequences of exempting patents from copyright protection (2016), at p. 13 and footnote 62.
Jen
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