Some people struggle to write the simple and concise verbiage needed for patent drafting. The summary paragraph for a patent should encapsulate the entire invention. This kind of explicit writing zeroes in and gets to the point without any wordy elaboration. It requires removing all passive voice and finding the right phrases that express the idea while organizing the text in a way that states the information definitively.

When an application is difficult to read or understand, it hurts you, the applicant, in many ways. First, the more complicated the document is to read, the less likely it is that you will read the application thoroughly, and so you may miss errors and omissions. Too often the applicant gives up halfway through the document and skips ahead to the signature page. The result is an application that may or may not include what you intended.

Secondly, the patent clerk or examiner may not read the application. The examiner usually knows the claim extremely thoroughly. However, because this person only has a limited amount of time, the more time they spend trying to find or understand the claim language, the less time spent doing the actual patent searching. This results in a denial or possibly an allowance that is less thorough.

If the patent is ever litigated, a confusing draft can frustrate and annoy judges, juries, and other parties. A poorly written patent may also leave open doors for litigants on either side to interpret the language in an unintended way. This is costly for all the parties.