Template:Cite patent

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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, provides 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 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

• Category:Pages using cite patent with unknown parameters (10)

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[Edit template data]

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 Example JP	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 Default patent Example 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 Example 2017-01-01	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 Example 2017-01-01	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 Example 2017-02-01	Unknown	optional
Date of issue	gdate issue-date	the date of grant (issuance) of a patent; required if status/description is not "application" Example 2017-02-01	Unknown	suggested
Inventor 1 surname	invent1 inventor-surname inventor1-surname inventor-last inventor1-last inventor invent-1	surname – 1st inventor Example Smith	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 Default http://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX={{{CountryCode}}}{{{PublicationNumber}}}	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}}

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Cite patent/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (edit | diff) and testcases (edit) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.