Abstract

An abstract is a short summary, of up to 150 words, of your invention which includes all of the most important technical features of your invention. It can also include other subsidiary features shown in your description. It is not part of your patent specification and is not part of the disclosure of your invention.

How to produce your abstract?

You should type or print your abstract on a separate sheet of plain white A4 paper under the heading "Abstract". It should have a title, which may be the same as that of your description. If your application contains drawings, you may suggest which drawing goes best with your abstract and include reference numbers in it to represent features shown in your drawing.

You should ensure that all of the technical features mentioned in the abstract are also included in the description since you cannot transfer any features from the abstract to the description.

We may edit your abstract, if it does not meet our requirements.

When do we need it?

You should file your abstract at the same time as filing your description and claims.

You may choose to file your abstract later but we do not recommend this because you will be unable to add to your description any matter that is contained in your abstract but not in your description. Later filed abstracts may be filed online.

Use of your abstract

We will include your abstract on the front page of your application upon publication. This helps us, and anyone else, looking at the technical area of your application.