Chicago (notes and bibliography) · Patent
How to cite a patent in Chicago (notes and bibliography)
A patent citation identifies an invention disclosure by its office and number, not by where you found the PDF. The classic mistakes are citing a patent application as if it were a granted patent, and dropping the country code from the number, which makes the document ambiguous across offices.
Worked example · Chicago (notes and bibliography)
Lovelace, Ada. Method for verifying citation integrity in generated text. Patent US 12,345,678, issued November 5, 2024. https://www.example.org/patents/us12345678.
Rendered with the official Chicago (notes and bibliography) style file from a placeholder source (reserved example DOI and domain), so the format is exactly what the style produces. In text: Numbered footnotes or endnotes, with a bibliography at the end.
What to collect before you cite a patent
- Inventor names
- The patent title
- The patent number with its country code
- The issue (grant) date, or filing date for applications
- The issuing office, if your style prints it
Have a DOI? Generate the reference instantly
Journal articles, many books and reports carry a DOI. Paste it and get the Chicago (notes and bibliography) entry from the same engine that produced the example above.
Citing a whole thesis, not one source?
CiteDash keeps your bibliography in Chicago (notes and bibliography) automatically, verifies every citation against a real paper, and compiles to DOCX, PDF or LaTeX.
Citing a patent in Chicago (notes and bibliography): FAQ
Application or granted patent: does it matter?
Yes. An application discloses; a grant confers rights, and the numbers differ. Say which one you used and cite its number, because claims often change between the two.
Who is the author, the inventor or the company?
Styles almost always use the inventors as authors. The assignee company can appear in the entry in some styles, but it never replaces the inventor names.
Do I need a URL for a patent?
Usually not: the office plus number identifies it permanently. Add the database URL only if your style asks for one or the patent is otherwise hard to locate.
What does the in-text citation look like in Chicago (notes and bibliography)?
Numbered footnotes or endnotes, with a bibliography at the end.
Is the example on this page hand-written?
No. It is rendered by the same citation engine and official CSL style file CiteDash uses for full thesis bibliographies, from a clearly-marked placeholder source, and a test re-renders it on every release so the page can never drift from the engine.