User:Rpclod/Patent Templates

This page is part of my attempt to understand how templates work and hopefully improve certain templates or their documentation. See also my specific analysis of the Patent/Citation Template.

Authors of Wikipedia pages sometimes need to cite specific patents, either to support factual assertions, to list the patents themselves (perhaps in part to demonstrate the notability of particular individual) or other reasons. I needed to do so for the article on O F Hunziker, but was unsure how to do so.

As the Wikipedia Manual of Style references the  citation templates, I focus on those templates (as they relate to patent citations) and the [[Template:Citation | Citation template's use of the  Citation/patent template.

The project page re Citation templates sets forth a specific citation template for patent sources. I prefer to use the standard citation templates. The template automates a hyperlink to the EPO site, but I would like to reference a USPTO, Google Patent or other online source. There are several discussions on the Citation templates page that reference the  Patent and  US patent templates.


 * The Patent template lacks documentation. There is no explanation as to how the template is used or what parameters are entered.  Review of the template itself suggests that three variables are entered, but I am unsure how these relate to those used in the citation template.


 * The US patent template documentation provides decent explanation, but parameters are limited to number and description.. However, the US patent template does automatically link to post 1976 applications, which is a very nice feature.

In turn, the documentation for these templates reference several other templates (Citation/patent, Cite patent, Citeref patent, EPO Application, EPO Register, Googpat, Ref patent, US patent application, US patent reference, USPTO Application, USPTO Patent). Except as listed below, these are poorly documented and do not appear to provide as many parameters as the citation template.


 * The EPO Register template is well documented but patent number appears to be the only functioning parameter.  A second parameter exists, but according to the documentation: "using the value '1' or any other value as second parameter leads to the 'European patent' template version".  Hence, this does not appear to perform any real function.


 * The Ref patent is very well documented and provides a large number of parameters (country, number, status, title, pubdate, gdate, fdate, pridate, invent1, invent2, assign1, assign2, class).  However, this template does not appear to provide a link to an online publication of the patent.


 * The US patent reference provides decent documentation, but parameters are limited to number, issue date, inventor and title.

I have the following comments and questions.


 * 1) My assumption is that the Wikipedia  preference is to use the  Citation templates, rather than other templates, when citing references in footnotes.  Is that assumption correct for patents?  If so, I assume that the other templates are used primarily for inline references rather than footnote references.
 * 2) Could the citation template for patents be modified to permit a hyperlink to a Google, USPTO or other online publication?  Note that other standard citation templates do provide for such an embedded link so the lack of such in the standard citation template for patents is somewhat odd.
 * 3) Should any consideration be given to eliminating any redundant patent reference templates and perhaps creating a set that could be used consistently inline and in footnotes?

A good discussion of patent citation issues can be found at the Harvard reference talk page.