 | This template is used on approximately 5,800 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them. |
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
((cite patent
| country =
| number =
| inventor =
| invent1 =
| invent2 =
| status =
| title =
| pubdate =
| gdate =
| fdate =
| pridate =
| assign1 =
| assign2 =
| url =
))
|
|
| 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:
- 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.
- Do not put commas in patent number
- Applications must be identified by publication number
- Add " | title = title " to display the title. Required
- Add " | status = application " if the citation is a pending application. Preferably include " | status = patent " if a granted patent.
- Add " | assign1 = assignee " to display the assignee. Increase the numeral for subsequent assignees. Template currently handles two assignees.
- 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. - 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.
- 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".
- 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".
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
TemplateData for Cite patent
General patent template for citing patents or patent applications from any country is drawn from the espacenet database.
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country code | country 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
| String | suggested |
| Publication number | number publication-number patent-number | patent or patent application publication number ... do not include commas (e.g. 1,700,545 should be 1700545) | Line | suggested |
| Title | title | patent title | String | required |
| Status | status description status | application or patent - If pending, use application. If granted, use patent
| Line | suggested |
| Date of publication | pubdate publication-date | the publication date of an application, required if status/description=application; use format YYYY-MM-DD
| Line | suggested |
| Filing date | fdate | the filing date; this is not displayed, but is used to generate COinS meta data and may have future utility. Use YYYY-MM-DD
| Date | optional |
| Priority date | pridate | 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
| Unknown | optional |
| Date of issue | gdate issue-date | the date of grant (issuance) of a patent; required if status/description _is not_ "application"
| Unknown | suggested |
| Inventor 1 - surname | invent1 inventor-surname inventor1-surname inventor-last inventor1-last inventor invent-1 | surname - 1st inventor
| Line | suggested |
| Inventor 2 - surname | invent2 inventor2-surname inventor2-last inventor2 | surname - 2nd inventor | Line | optional |
| Inventor 3 - surname | invent3 inventor3-surname inventor3-last inventor3 | surname - 3rd inventor | Line | optional |
| Inventor 4 - surname | invent4 inventor4-surname inventor4-last inventor4 | surname - 4th inventor | Line | optional |
| Inventor 1 - given name | inventor1-first inventor-given inventor1-given inventor-first | given name - 1st inventor | Line | suggested |
| Inventor 2 - given name | inventor2-first inventor2-given | given name - 2nd inventor | Line | optional |
| Inventor 3 - given name | inventor3-first inventor3-given | given name - 3rd inventor | Line | optional |
| Inventor 4 - given name | inventor4-first inventor4-given | given name - 4th inventor | Line | optional |
| Inventor 1 - Wikipedia article | inventorlink inventorlink1 | Wikilink biographical article name, no square brackets | Page name | optional |
| Inventor 2 - Wikipedia article | inventorlink2 | add biographical article name, no square brackets | Page name | optional |
| Inventor 3 - Wikipedia article | inventorlink3 | add biographical article name, no square brackets | Page name | optional |
| Inventor 4 - Wikipedia article | inventorlink4 | add biographical article name, no square brackets | Page name | optional |
| Assignee - first | assign1 | first assignee's name | Line | optional |
| Assignee - second | assign2 | second assignee's name | Line | optional |
| URL | url | Explicit URL to patent information
| URL | optional |
See also
- ((Citation))
- ((EPO Register)), to include a link to the European Patent Register entry of a European patent or patent application
- ((Patent)), a generic template for general use referring to world's patent offices
- ((US patent)), to include a link to a US patent
- ((US patent application)), to cite a US patent application as a reference in "references" section
- ((US patent reference)), to cite a US patent as a reference in "references" section
- ((USPTO Application))
- ((USPTO Patent))