The primary focus of every patent application is the innovative aspects of the client’s technology, but that doesn't mean you have to draft everything from scratch each time. There may be phrases, sentences, or sets of several paragraphs you'd like to reuse for consistent and thorough enablement of your solution, or for legal reasons like avoiding rejections for abstraction.
One of our power users shared how content merge and term definitions functions built into Rowan Patents drafting allow him to create and reuse mini-templates to turbocharge his drafting efficiency. Here's how it works:
1. Capture text you want to reuse in the Terms Manager.
Start a new .rp file and open the Terms Manager from the Tools or Terms menu.
In your Terms Manager, "+Add" a term to enter a name for your mini-template, then add your mini-template text in the definition field.
2. Save your file for convenient merging in future.
Give your file a name and location you'll be able to easily remember and locate for future use.
3. Merge your mini-template file into your next draft.
The next time you're drafting and want to use one of your mini-templates, just drag and drop your saved file onto your draft application to merge your mini-template content in.
You can merge in all items selected in the resulting dialog, or uncheck the options for claims and specification, as well as figures. Terms and definitions will always be merged.
4. Use the sidebar to insert your mini-templates.
Click the dictionary icon to the right to open the Terms panel.
Your mini-template will insert as synced text. If you want to modify it and retain or break the sync capability, options are provided as you type.
Click "Re-sync..." to revert to original mini-template text.
Click "Sync edits..." to update mini-template text to what you've typed.
Click "Ignore sync" or just continue drafting and ignore the red highlighting to continue with your customized text with no changes to the mini-template.
Click "Delete..." to remove what you've just added.
Create as many mini-templates as you need, curate them in their own file, merge them in as you draft, and insert them most easily using the Terms sidebar. In these few easy steps mini-templates can save you time and effort with every application.