• Unless the nature of the invention makes a different wording desirable, claims must be written in the so-called “two-part form”. The first part (a) consists of a preamble indicating the technical characteristics of the invention that are part of the prior art; and a second part (b) (the characterizing portion) sets out the technical characteristics that the invention adds to the state of the art, and which together with those mentioned in paragraph (a), are to be protected.
• Claims must be numbered consecutively. The Patent Office does not accept claims that are not consecutively numbered, which may occur after amending the set. If one or more claims are deleted, or new claims are added, the whole set must be consecutively renumbered, and dependencies must be fixed.
• If drawings have been submitted, the technical features mentioned in the claims may be followed by reference numerals of the corresponding features shown in the drawings. Such reference numerals shall be included in parentheses. Reference numerals shall not be included when they are not necessary for a better understanding of the claim.
