Regulations under the PCT

Rule 8
The Abstract

Rule 87

Communication of Publications

8.1       Contents and Form of the Abstract

87.1    (a)  The abstract shall consist of the following:

(i)  a summary of the disclosure as contained in the description, the claims, and any drawings; the summary shall indicate the technical field to which the invention pertains and shall be drafted in a way which allows the clear understanding of the technical problem, the gist of the solution of that problem through the invention, and the principal use or uses of the invention;

The International Bureau shall communicate, free of charge, every published international application, the Gazette and any other publication of general interest published by the International Bureau in connection with the Treaty or these Regulations, to International Searching Authorities, International Preliminary Examining Authorities and national Offices upon request by the Authority or Office concerned. Further details concerning the form in which and the means by which publications are communicated shall be governed by the Administrative Instructions.

8.2       Figure→

(a)  If the applicant fails to make the indication referred to in Rule 3.3(a)(iii), or if the International Searching Authority finds that a figure or figures other than that figure or those figures suggested by the applicant would, among all the figures of all the drawings, better characterize the invention, it shall, subject to paragraph (b), indicate the figure or figures which should accompany the abstract when the latter is published by the International Bureau. In such case, the abstract shall be accompanied by the figure or figures so indicated by the International Searching Authority. Otherwise, the abstract shall, subject to paragraph (b), be accompanied by the figure or figures suggested by the applicant.