Patents are a form of intellectual property protection that grant exclusive rights to the patent owner to profit off of the patent. For inventions, the patent term lasts 20 years from the date of application. Patent applications often contain important information about a product or invention, and business owners might need to cite these applications when writing business documents, completing paperwork and engaging in other business-related tasks.
Provide the patent application number, the publication number and the publication date when you are referencing patents in business paperwork or government forms. These forms don't typically require you to use academic citations, so providing sufficient information for the person reading the paperwork to locate the patent is usually sufficient. If the patent is not yet published, provide the patent application number and the application date.
Use APA (American Psychological Association) citation style when writing academic works that require this citation style. The proper way to cite a patent under APA is as follows: patent holder names (last name followed by first initial); year of application; patent number (italicized); city of patent; and source. Note that for U.S. patents, the city is always Washington, D.C.
Use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for academic papers requiring this style. For example, elementary school students are typically required to use MLA. Patents are cited in MLA as follows: patent holder names (last name first); patent name (in quotation marks); patent number; and date of patent application.
Use the Chicago Manual of Style citation style when required. Patents in the Chicago style are formatted as follows: inventor Names (last name first); patent title; patent number; date of filing; and date of patent issuance.
- Cite Right, Second Edition; Charles Lipson
- United States Patent and Trademark Office: 2701 Patent Term
- Iowa State University: How to Cite Patents
Van Thompson is an attorney and writer. A former martial arts instructor, he holds bachelor's degrees in music and computer science from Westchester University, and a juris doctor from Georgia State University. He is the recipient of numerous writing awards, including a 2009 CALI Legal Writing Award.