Template:Cite patent/doc

This template identifies a patent or patent application and links to the patents entry in the espacenet database, and also provides some additional information about the cited patent. Suggested uses are within a pair of <ref></ref> tags or as part of a (patent) bibliography at the end of the article. This template should not be used in the body of an article; for more details, see the External Links guideline.

General patent template for citing patents or patent applications from any country is drawn from the espacenet database. This database is more useful than the USPTO database since it highlights related patents/applications in other countries as well as providing current status information and offers a multi-language interface (English/French/German).

Usage

Copy the text below into an article to reference a patent

Most commonly used parameters in vertical format
{{cite patent
| country	= 
| number	= 
| inventor	= 
| invent1	= 
| invent2	= 
| status	= 
| title		= 
| pubdate	= 
| gdate		= 
| fdate		= 
| pridate	= 
| assign1	= 
| assign2	= 
| url		= 
}}
Full parameter set in horizontal format
{{cite patent |country= |number= |inventor= |invent1= |invent2= |status= |title= |pubdate= |gdate= |fdate= |pridate= |assign1= |assign2= |url=}}


Full parameter set in vertical format
Vertical list Prerequisites Brief instructions / notes
{{cite patent
| country = 
| number = 
| inventor = 
| invent1 = 
| invent2 = 
| status = 
| title =
| pubdate = 
| gdate	= 
| fdate	= 
| pridate = 
| assign1 = 
| assign2 = 
| url = 
}}
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
REQUIRED
if "status=application"
unless "status=application"
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
two letter country code 
patent or patent application publication number
list of inventors (free format)
first inventor name 
second inventor name 
application/patent
title
publication date (YYYY-MM-DD)
granted date (YYYY-MM-DD)
filing date (YYYY-MM-DD) 
(earliest) priority date (YYYY-MM-DD)
first assignee name 
second assignee name  
explicit URL (if not present on espacenet)
  • If a field name is listed in the Prerequisites column, it is a prerequisite for the field to the left.

Parameters

The fields should be filled in with the following information

{{cite patent
| country	= <!-- two letter country code -->
| number	= <!-- patent or patent application publication number -->
| inventor	= <!-- list of inventors (free format) -->
| invent1	= <!-- first inventor name -->
| invent2	= <!-- second inventor name -->
| status	= <!-- application/patent -->
| title		= <!-- title -->
| pubdate	= <!-- YYYY-MM-DD -->
| gdate		= <!-- YYYY-MM-DD -->
| fdate		= <!-- YYYY-MM-DD -->
| pridate	= <!-- YYYY-MM-DD -->
| assign1	= <!-- first assignee name -->
| assign2	= <!-- second assignee name -->
| url		= <!-- Explicit URL -->
}}

Explanation of fields:

  1. The country must be the two letter country code, e.g. "US" or "WO" (for international patent applications) See here for the full list of country codes.
  2. Do not put commas in patent number
  3. Applications must be identified by publication number
  4. Add " | title = title " to display the title. Required
  5. Add " | status = application " if the citation is a pending application. Preferably include " | status = patent " if a granted patent.
  6. Add " | assign1 = assignee " to display the assignee. Increase the numeral for subsequent assignees. Template currently handles two assignees.
  7. Add " | inventor = inventor list to provide the inventor names. Displayed by the template but not used to generate COinS meta data. If |inventor= is present but blank, no inventor names will be displayed, even if |invent1= contains a name.
  8. Add " | invent1 = inventor last name, inventor first name " to provide the inventor name. Displayed by the template and also used to generate COinS meta data. Increase the numeral for subsequent inventors. Template currently handles four inventors.
  9. Add " | pubdate = YYYY-MM-DD " to provide the publication date of an application. This is only displayed if "status=application" is included. For granted patents, use gdate. Required if "status=application".
  10. Add " | gdate = YYYY-MM-DD " to provide the date of grant of a patent. Is displayed unless "status=application" is included. Preferentially include "status=patent" to confirm that the patent is granted, but this is not required. Required unless "status=application".
  11. Add " | pridate = YYYY-MM-DD " to provide the (earliest) priority date. Not displayed, but could be useful to include for future reference. Including multiple priorities unnecessarily complicated.
  12. Add " | fdate = YYYY-MM-DD " to provide the filing date. Not displayed, but used to generate COinS meta data and may prove useful in future.
  13. Add " |url=url " to provide an explicit URL to the patent information. This is only necessary for patents that aren't present on espacenet.com; typically very old patents.

Details

The "country" parameter must be a two letter country code without periods (e.g. US or EP, not U.S., USA, or E.P.)

The number parameter must be the patent number or patent application publication number without any intervening commas or other punctuation (e.g. 2135432, not 2,135,432; likewise, 2005108455, not 2005/108455). You may need to experiment with the precise form for published US patent applications or PCT applications, which are slightly unusual. Help for getting the correct number format can be found here.

Add "|status=application" (without quotes) if you are citing a patent application rather than a patent. Patent applications must be referred to by publication number, not application number.

One (or both) of the publication date or the grant date must be included, as must the title.

Examples

To cite WIPO (aka PCT) patent application WO 2005/083605 A1, use:

{{cite patent
| country = WO
| number = 2005083605
| status = application
| title = Insurance fee calculation device, insurance fee calculation program,
insurance fee calculation method, and insurance fee calculation system
| pubdate = 2005-09-09
| fdate = 2005-02-24
| pridate = 2004-02-26
| invent1 = Kozakai Toshihiko
| assign1 = Aioi Insurance Co Ltd
}}

Results in: WO application 2005083605, Kozakai Toshihiko, "Insurance fee calculation device, insurance fee calculation program, insurance fee calculation method, and insurance fee calculation system", published 2005-09-09, assigned to Aioi Insurance Co Ltd 

To cite US patent 7,143,445, use:

{{cite patent |country=US |number=7143445 |status=patent}}

Results in: US patent 7143445 

To cite US patent 7,143,445, published 2006-11-28, use:

{{cite patent |country=US |number=7143445 |gdate=2006-11-28}}

Results in: US 7143445, issued 2006-11-28 

To cite US patent application 2006265789 use:

{{cite patent |country=US |number=2006265789 |status=application}}

Results in: US application 2006265789 

To cite European patent application 1727416, use:

{{cite patent |country=EP |number=1727416 |status=application}}

Results in: EP application 1727416 

Maintenance categories

COinS

This template produces COinS metadata; see COinS in Wikipedia for background information.

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Cite patent in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Cite patent

General patent template for citing patents or patent applications from any country is drawn from the espacenet database.

Template parameters

ParameterDescriptionTypeStatus
Country codecountry country-code country

two letter country code (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2); the top 10 countries by patent application in 2011 were - JP=Japan, CN=China, US=United States, KR=South Korea, DE=Germany, FR=France, GB=United Kingdom, CH=Switzerland, NL=Netherlands, RU=Russia

Example
JP
Stringsuggested
Publication numbernumber publication-number patent-number

patent or patent application publication number ... do not include commas (e.g. 1,700,545 should be 1700545)

Linesuggested
Titletitle

patent title

Stringrequired
Statusstatus description status

application or patent - If pending, use application. If granted, use patent

Default
patent
Example
patent
Linesuggested
Date of publication pubdate publication-date

the publication date of an application, required if status/description=application; use format YYYY-MM-DD

Example
2017-01-01
Linesuggested
Filing datefdate

the filing date; this is not displayed, but is used to generate COinS meta data and may have future utility. Use YYYY-MM-DD

Example
2017-01-01
Dateoptional
Priority datepridate

the (earliest) priority date; this is not displayed, but could be useful to include for future reference. Including multiple priorities is unnecessarily complicated. Use YYYY-MM-DD

Example
2017-02-01
Unknownoptional
Date of issuegdate issue-date

the date of grant (issuance) of a patent; required if status/description _is not_ "application"

Example
2017-02-01
Unknownsuggested
Inventor 1 - surnameinvent1 inventor-surname inventor1-surname inventor-last inventor1-last inventor invent-1

surname - 1st inventor

Example
Smith
Linesuggested
Inventor 2 - surnameinvent2 inventor2-surname inventor2-last inventor2

surname - 2nd inventor

Lineoptional
Inventor 3 - surnameinvent3 inventor3-surname inventor3-last inventor3

surname - 3rd inventor

Lineoptional
Inventor 4 - surnameinvent4 inventor4-surname inventor4-last inventor4

surname - 4th inventor

Lineoptional
Inventor 1 - given nameinventor1-first inventor-given inventor1-given inventor-first

given name - 1st inventor

Linesuggested
Inventor 2 - given nameinventor2-first inventor2-given

given name - 2nd inventor

Lineoptional
Inventor 3 - given nameinventor3-first inventor3-given

given name - 3rd inventor

Lineoptional
Inventor 4 - given nameinventor4-first inventor4-given

given name - 4th inventor

Lineoptional
Inventor 1 - Wikipedia articleinventorlink inventorlink1

Wikilink biographical article name, no square brackets

Page nameoptional
Inventor 2 - Wikipedia articleinventorlink2

add biographical article name, no square brackets

Page nameoptional
Inventor 3 - Wikipedia articleinventorlink3

add biographical article name, no square brackets

Page nameoptional
Inventor 4 - Wikipedia articleinventorlink4

add biographical article name, no square brackets

Page nameoptional
Assignee - firstassign1

first assignee's name

Lineoptional
Assignee - secondassign2

second assignee's name

Lineoptional
URLurl

Explicit URL to patent information

Default
http://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX={{{CountryCode}}}{{{PublicationNumber}}}
URLoptional

See also