Subject & Study Guides: TUS Athlone Campus Harvard Guide: Patents and Standards and Acts

Patents, Standards and Acts

NOTE: Law and official publications Referencing legal materials is complex. There are several specific citation styles. Law students in Athlone Institute of technology should consult the Law subject guide under 'Subject Support on the AIT Library webpage Below are guidelines for non-law students

For patents the title may be more of a descriptive title rather than a formal title
Identifying elements such as patent/standard numbers should be included
If no individual author is available, a corporate author can be used in the in-text reference

Material Type	In-text Example	Reference List example
Act : General template	(Act, Year)	Country of Act Title of Act (Year) Number (if any), s. (if a section has been referred to), Place of publication: Publisher.
Act : Example Ireland	(Human rights commission act, 2000)	Government of Ireland. Human Rights Commission Act. (2000) No.9/2000, Dublin: Stationery Office.
Act : Example 2 Ireland	(Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000)	Government of Ireland. Copyright and Related Rights Act. (2000) No.28/2000, Dublin: Stationery Office, Available at: https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2000/act/28/enacted/en/html [Accessed: 15 August 2022].
EU publications	(European Commission, Date)	EU publications REF: Name of EU Institution (Year) Title. Place of Publication: Publisher.
Example:	(European Commission, 2003)	European Commission (2003) Making globalisation work for everyone. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Available at: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/d6ca59fb-5b06-4e81-8bd7-3ff5aa0658d8 [Accessed: 2 June 2014].
Circular	(Department of Education and Science, 2005)	Department of Education and Science (2005) Organisation of teaching resources for pupils who need additional support in mainstream primary schools. Circular SP ED 02/05. Dublin: The Stationery Office.
Bill	In text example …. the provisions of the Technological Universities Bill (Government of Ireland, 2015)	Government of Ireland (2015) Technological Universities Bill. Dublin: Stationery Office (No 21 of 2015).
EU directives, and regulations		Legislation type Number and title. Year (in round brackets) Official Journal (OJ) series (in italics) Issue Page numbers Or DOI or Available at: URL (Accessed: date) Commission decisions are cited as cases
Example	The minister highlighted the terms of Council directive 2003/88/EC (2003), OR (Council directive 2003/88/EC, 2003)	Council directive 2003/88/EC concerning certain aspects of the organization of working time. (2003) Official Journal L 299, p9-19 or Council directive 2003/88/EC concerning certain aspects of the organization of working time. (2003) Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/ [Accessed 26 May 2017].
Statutory Instrument S.I.	(Name and Year) Example … (Land Registration (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2013) …	Title of Statutory Instrument including year, S.I. No. of Year, Place of Publication: Publisher if available: web address [accessed date] [if available online]. Land Registration (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2013, S.I. No. 21 of 2013, Dublin: Stationery Office, Available at: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2013/si/21/ [Accessed 05 Aug 2016].

Material Type	In-Text Citation	Reference List Entry
Standard		Name of authorising organisation Year of publication (in round brackets) Number and title of standard (In italics) Place of publishing: Publisher If online [Online] Available at: URL [Accessed: date].
BSI example	(British Standards Institution, 1990)	British Standards Institute (1990) BS5605: 1990 Recommendations for citing and referencing published material. Milton Keynes: BSI.
Standard: example 2	(International Standards Office, 1998)	International Standards Office (1998) ISO 690 - 2 Information and documentation: bibliographical references: electronic documents. Geneva: ISO.
Standard: Online: example	(British Standards Institution, 1990)	British Standards Institute (2005) BS8103-2: 2005 Structural design of low rise buildings: Part 2: code of practice for masonary walls for housing. London: BSI. Available at: HSI database [Accessed 18 July 2013].

Material Type	In-Text Example	Reference List Example
Patent template		Inventor Year of publication (in round brackets) Title (In italics) Authorising organisation Patent number [Online] Available at: URL [Accessed: date].
Patent example	(Cookson, 1985)	Cookson, A.H. (1985) Particle trap for compressed gas insulated transmission systems. US Patent 4554399.
Patent: Retrieved from a database example	(Mccallum, 2008)	Mccallum, J.M. (2008) Method for and composition of excipient suitable for use in herbal formulations and formulations derived therefrom. Australian Patent AU 2008100919. Available from: SciFinder Scholar [Accessed 8 December 2008].