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APA 7th

APA (American Psychological Association) 7th edition is an author-date referencing style requiring an in-text citation within the text of your document and a related entry in a reference list at the end of your document.

Patent - reference list

No date: If there is no year of publication, use the abbreviation (n.d.) for no date.

Patent title: The Patent title is in italics and sentence case, i.e. capitalise the first letter of the first word and the first word after a colon. Capitalise for proper nouns.

For more information on reference list format and style, see General information - basics of referencing.

Format (electronic)

Inventor. (Year Patent Issued). Title of patent (Patent No.). Source. https://xxx

Examples

Hart, R. (2011). Feijoa variety named 'Kaiteri' (U.S. Patent No. 20090158474P1). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2009/0158474.html

Simcro Limited. (2002). Improved animal doser (N.Z. Patent No. 503403). New Zealand Intellectual Property Office. https://app.iponz.govt.nz/app/Extra/IP/Mutual/Browse.aspx?sid=637122657680138910

Place a comma preceding an ‘&’ before the last author's name.

Format (electronic)

Inventor One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, & Twenty. (Year Patent Issued). Title of patent (Patent No.). Source. https://xxx

Example

McGuire, K. S., Steinhardt, M. J., Bischoff, C. M., Sawicki, E. M., Hasenoehrl, E. J., Beck, B. J., Marsden, D. A., & Page, C. J. (2013). Stemmed lighting assembly with disk-shaped illumination element (Canadian Patent No. CA2834348). Canadian Intellectual Property Office. https://bit.ly/35JtYyM

Patent - in-text citations

Parenthetical citation: When you use another person’s ideas or words in your text, include the author’s name and publication date in brackets, generally at the end of the sentence,  e.g. ... services closer to home (Bishop, 2024).

Narrative citation: If you use the author’s name as part of a sentence, include the date of publication in brackets, generally at the beginning of the sentence, e.g. Bishop (2024) argued that time was ...

Parenthetical citation

The fleshy characteristics of the new variety of feijoa are depicted in the photographs accompanying the patent application (Hart, 2009, sheet 3).

Note: If you use a parenthetical citation the first time, followed by a narrative citation, you need to repeat the date.

Narrative citation

The photographs by Hart (2009) depict the fleshy characteristics of the new variety of feijoa (sheet 3).

Note: If you use a narrative citation the first time, followed by another narrative citation, you can omit the date. But, if you use a parenthetical citation the next time, you must include the date.

Use ‘&’ between the authors' surnames when they are enclosed within brackets. Use ‘and’ when they form part of the sentence.

Parenthetical citation

... the use of a multiplexer for transmitting data across a network, as described in a 2008 patent (Underwood & Hemmert, 2011).

Note: If you use a parenthetical citation the first time, followed by a narrative citation, you need to repeat the date.

Narrative citation

Underwood and Hemmert (2011) described the use of a multiplexer for transmitting data across a network.

Note: If you use a narrative citation the first time, followed by another narrative citation, you can omit the date. But, if you use a parenthetical citation the next time, you must include the date.

Cite only the surname of the first author followed by ‘et al.’

Parenthetical citation

... and was described as giving the user a sense of reality through 'handling' the images (Montan et al., 2012). Another feature, according to Montan et al. (2012), is the enhanced look and feel of a transition effect.

Note: If you use a parenthetical citation the first time, followed by a narrative citation, you need to repeat the date.

Narrative citation

Montan et al. (2012) suggest that the user has a sense of reality through 'handling' the images. Montan et al. also suggest that another feature is the enhanced look and feel of a transition effect.

Note: If you use a narrative citation the first time, followed by another narrative citation, you can omit the date. But, if you use a parenthetical citation the next time, you must include the date.

Use the name of the group as it appears in your reference list. However, the group name can be abbreviated. The first time cite the full name with the abbreviation. Subsequently, only use the abbreviation. If the reader could be confused by the abbreviation use the full group name each time.

Parenthetical citation

... using the improved animal vaccinator to administer medication (Simcro Limited, 2002).

Note: If you use a parenthetical citation the first time, followed by a narrative citation, you need to repeat the date.

Narrative citation

Simcro Limited (2002) elaborate on improvements made to the animal vaccinator.

Note: If you use a narrative citation the first time, followed by another narrative citation, you can omit the date. But, if you use a parenthetical citation the next time, you must include the date.