Citing a Patent in APA Style (6th Edition) | Format & Examples

This article follows the guidelines of the 6th edition of the APA manual. A version updated for the 7th edition is available here.

The reference of a patent is different from the normal APA Style. The APA reference for a patent consists of four parts: the name of the inventor, the year in which the patent was issued, the unique patent identification number, and the name of the patent office.

Patent
APA-format Inventor Last Name, Initials. (Year Of Patent Issue). Patent Identifier No.. State, city: Patent Office Name
In reference list Fry, A. L. (1993). U.S. Patent No. 5,194,299. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
In the text
  • According to a patent on adhesive sheet material … (U.S. Patent No. 5,194,299, 1993).
  • A technique in Patent U.S. Patent No. 5,194,299 (1994) shows that … .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Driessen, K. (2020, November 06). Citing a Patent in APA Style (6th Edition) | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved January 8, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/6th-edition/archived-patent/

Is this article helpful?
Koen Driessen

Koen has written multiple theses and founded, together with Bas and Richard, the thesis editing company Scribbr in 2012.