&gt; patents should contain relevant CAD files to better describe the invention<p>Interestingly this could actually provide stronger legal protection for the patenting person.  Under existing copyright law people are unwilling to work on open source projects that interact with closed source products for which there has been a source code leak because it is harder to prove that you&#x27;ve never seen the closed source code.<p>Currently one can make new CAD file without infringing copyright (patent law I&#x27;m not sure of) but if people published the CAD files with the patent the patent owner could claim that any files that floated around on the internet are copyright infringements (and hence crimes an an of themselves).<p>---
I am not a lawyer. I&#x27;m definitely not your lawyer. If you need legal advice pay someone that knows what they&#x27;re talking about.