3.6 Broad claims 

The search division does not have to make any special effort to search unduly wide or speculative claims beyond the subject-matter that is sufficiently disclosed in the application (Art. 83) and supported by the description (Art. 84).

Example 1

If the claims in an application that relates to an automatic telephone exchange and describes it in detail are directed to an automatic communication switching centre, the search is not widened to include automatic telegraph exchanges, data switching centres, etc. merely because the claims are broadly worded but only if it is probable that it will then produce a document on which a reasonable novelty or inventive-step objection could be based.

Example 2

If a claim is directed to a process for manufacturing an "impedance element" but the description and drawings relate only to the manufacture of a resistor element, and do not indicate how other types of impedance element could be manufactured by the claimed process, widening the search to include, say, the manufacture of capacitors is normally not justified.

Example 3

If the main claim relates to the chemical treatment of a substrate, but it appears from the description or all the examples that the problem to be solved depends solely on the nature of natural leather, the search is normally not widened to cover the fields of plastics, fabrics or glass.

Example 4

If the description and drawings are directed to a lock with a safety cylinder but the claims refer to a device allowing the indexation of the angular position of a first element with respect to two other rotating elements, then the search is limited to locks.

In exceptional cases where there is such a lack of disclosure or support that a meaningful search over the whole scope of the claims is impossible, it may make sense to follow the procedure under Rule 63 and issue either a partial search report or a declaration replacing the search report (see B‑VIII, 3).