Patent: how to cite in Chicago Style – notes and bibliography (17th ed.)?

Create a spot-on reference in Chicago 17 and 16

Select a source type:

General rules

Chicago Style – notes and bibliography (17th ed.) requires the following elements to be given when referencing a patent: author of the patent (inventor), title, country, patent number, date when the application was filed, and date when the patent was issued.

For a patent available online, the URL address at which it can be found is given at the end of the reference.

The Chicago Manual of Style does not require citing the institution that issued the patent.

Template of reference in a bibliography:

Author. Title. Country patent Patent number, filed Date filed and issued Date issued. URL.

Template of full note:

Author, Title, Country patent Patent number, filed Date filed and issued Date issued, number of the cited page, URL.

Template of short note:

Author, Title, number of the cited page.

Example of reference in a bibliography

Cheng, Kangguo, Bruce B. Doris, Michael A. Guillorn, and Xin Miao. Nanosheet MOSFET with Full-Height Air-Gap Spacer. U.S. Patent US9853132B2, filed 10 October 2016, and issued 26 December 2017. https://patents.google.com/patent/US9853132B2/.

Examples of notes

1. Kangguo Cheng et al., Nanosheet MOSFET with Full-Height Air-Gap Spacer, U.S. Patent US9853132B2, filed 10 October 2016, and issued 26 December 2017, 16, https://patents.google.com/patent/US9853132B2/.

2. Cheng et al., Nanosheet MOSFET, 16.

Other citation styles: