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Bluebook Guide: Patents

This guide introduces the Bluebook's uniform system of legal citation. This guide is best used in conjunction with the Bluebook.

Agency & Executive Materials

The Bluebook includes a table of administrative agency and executive materials, focusing on citation formats that differ from Rule 14 in Table 1.2, found on pages 230-241. If an agency entry lists only the agency's official publications, no special citation format is necessary, and these agency materials can be cited according to Rule 14.

Of particular note is the treatment of patent materials regarding decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and the specific filings of patents on p. 233.

Patent Citation Forms

Decisions

Cite decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (P.T.A.B.) as: <case name>, No. <docket number>, <citation to secondary source if available> (P.T.A.B. <date>).

  • Ex Parte Cellect LLC, No. 2021-005302, 2021 WL 5755327, at *1 (P.T.A.B. Dec. 1, 2021).
  • Ex parte Lanter, No. 2017-001878, 2017 WL 4418937 (P.T.A.B. Sept. 27, 2017).
  • Metrasens, Inc. v. Kopp, No. IPR2022-01224 (P.T.A.B. Dec. 21, 2023).

The P.T.A.B.'s predecessor, the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (B.P.A.I.), will be cited similarly.

  • Ex parte Cripe, No. 2009-003114, 2009 WL 258663 (B.P.A.I. Aug. 21, 2009).
  • Ex parte Doerwald, No. 2009-006268, 2010 WL 785239(B.P.A.I. Mar. 5, 2010).

Patents

Cite the patent number. The date the patent was filed may be included if relevant.

U.S. Patent No. 5,763,483 (filed Dec. 27, 1996) (issued June 9, 1998) (outlining the meets and bounds of the ‘483 Patent).

The patent name and/or issuing date may be included if relevant.

See, e.g., Hand-Held Computs. Incorporating Reduced Area Imaging Devices, U.S. Patent No. 6,424,369 (filed Aug. 15, 2000) (issued July 23, 2002) (referencing Reduced Area Imaging Devices, U.S. Patent No. 6,275,255 (filed Feb. 1, 2000) (issued Aug. 14, 2001), which the ‘369 Patent was a continuation-in-part of).

To cite a specific field of the title page, include the field code in brackets.

U.S. Patent No. 5,952,375 (filed Feb. 26, 1996) (issued Sept. 14, 1999). The ‘375 Patent expired earlier than twenty years after its filing date because it claimed priority to an abandoned patent application which was filed on February 27, 1995. Id. at [63].

Cite a specific portion of patent text, a patent figure, or an item within a figure.

  • U.S. Patent No. 4,405,829 col. 2 l. 30 (filed Dec. 14, 1977).
  • ‘742 Patent col. 1 l. 21-26.

The short form for a patent includes an apostrophe followed by the last three digits of the patent number.

‘375 Patent.

Patents that have been filed, but not approved.

See In re Robeson, 331 F.2d at 611 n.1 (citing U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 641,805 (filed October 9, 1956)).