I copied attributes.phtml file from base into my custom theme to change the way the attributes table is displayed.
When I make changes to it keeping it in the base, it works fine.
Copying it into custom theme removes the entire tab entirely beside description tab.
Since it is working fine in the base version but not in my custom theme folders, is there something particular about attributes.phtml that I need to keep in mind before copying into my custom theme folder?
This is probably a case of permissions. Just check and ensure you have the correct permissions as the rest of the files.