Harvard (Cite Them Right) · Patent
How to cite a patent in Harvard (Cite Them Right)
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 · Harvard (Cite Them Right)
Lovelace, A. (2024) “Method for verifying citation integrity in generated text.” United States. Available at: https://www.example.org/patents/us12345678.
Rendered with the official Harvard (Cite Them Right) style file from a placeholder source (reserved example DOI and domain), so the format is exactly what the style produces. In text: Author-date in-text citations, for example (Author, 2021), with a reference list.
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 Harvard (Cite Them Right) entry from the same engine that produced the example above.
Citing a whole thesis, not one source?
CiteDash keeps your bibliography in Harvard (Cite Them Right) automatically, verifies every citation against a real paper, and compiles to DOCX, PDF or LaTeX.
Citing a patent in Harvard (Cite Them Right): 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 Harvard (Cite Them Right)?
Author-date in-text citations, for example (Author, 2021), with a reference list.
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.