How to List Patents on Resume: Main Reasons & Best Ways

When crafting a high-quality and impressive resume, one has to make sure to include everything that showcases their professional achievements and skills. While writing about relevant jobs and startup experience on resume is easier, it’s not always clear how to include some other things, like patents.

If you’re also wondering how to list patents on resume and where to include them, this guide by a resume expert is just what you need. We will go over the importance of including your copyrighted products, the right way to showcase them, and examples of how to do so.

Should You List Patents on Resume?

If you are done adding your experiences as a CFA on resume, or whatever field you belong to, you may start to wonder whether you should write about the copyrights you have. The short answer is that most of the time, you should. This is especially true if the copyright you have is connected to your particular field.

For example, if you belong to the software development industry and have a license for a unique product or service that is technology-related, you should include it.

Why is that though? Well, it showcases your dedication to your field to potential employers. When a hiring manager sees that you have secured copyrights along with experiences with organizations like EIT on resume, they will be likely to take you more seriously than others who don’t have such achievements.

Your application will stand out from the rest as your legal copyrights will display how committed you are to research and development within your field. And those are things that are sought after by employers more and more these days.

Where Should You List The Patents On Your Resume?

Now that you know the importance of adding a patent on resume, where exactly is the right place to fit it in? The first thing that you should do is include it in the Summary section of your document. This way, whoever is reading your application will instantly know that you have secured one or more copyrights and they will be more likely to look for them more closely as they go through your credentials and experiences.

After a short sentence in the Summary section, you should add details about your copyrights in a dedicated section somewhere in your document. This section can be placed in different parts of the document, depending on the job you’re applying for. If the job requires you to showcase your research or inventions, then add this section right under the Summary so that it is front and center.

If the job is missing such a requirement, you may add the section after your previous job experiences. Be sure not to bury this section somewhere at the end of your resume though.

Another thing you can do is include these listings with a previous job that they are associated with. Perhaps you got a copyright license as part of another job, or perhaps it is just related to a prior role. Whatever the case, if you have one that can be bundled in with a prior work experience, you can add it under that job’s subheading.

How To List A Patent In A Resume?

Listing patents on resume is a little different than many other achievements or experiences, like how to put hackathon on resume, for example. To include a patent on resume, you should generally follow these steps:

• The first thing you need to do is gather all the details that are required. These include information about the Type, Creator’s Name, Application Number and Date, your Patent Number, and Date of Approval.
• Be sure to double-check all the information at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or whichever organization applies in your case.
• Once you have all this information, just follow this template: the last and first name of the creator of the product or service, the year of receiving the patent, the name of the product created, the patent number, the date of filing for it, the complete date of receiving it.

In those simple steps, you can easily list an approved or provisional patent on resume. This template ensures that all the information is very clearly laid out. You can also add some details about the product or service you have created if it correlates with the new job that you’re applying for. If it is not completely relevant to the new job, you may just list it using this template and not include any further details.

How To Include Patents Which Are Still Pending?

What if you have an application that is not yet approved? Should you list it? Again, if it is relevant to your new job, then you should definitely include it. The location of it should be the same as we have already talked about – either in its own section or with a related prior work experience. The template for such information is also very similar to the one laid out above, but with slight modifications:

the last and first name of the creator of the product or service, the year of filing, the name of the product created, the application number, the date of filing for it, the complete date of submitting the application. The words ‘Patent Pending’.

An Example of Listing Patents On A Resume

Following the template, approved copyright can look something like this:

Smith, Jason. 2019. Product Name ABC. U.S. Patent 123456, filed January 1, 2019, and issued November 1, 2019.

And the same information would look like this if it is still pending:

Smith, Jason. 2019. Product Name ABC. U.S. Patent 123456, filed January 1, 2019. Patent pending.

This is a very simple and easy way how to put patent on resume. Each listing should have its own point and all the details should be carefully checked. As stated before, if a listing is relevant to your field or your next job, you may want to add some additional information about your invention to showcase your technical or creative skills to potential employers.

Now, when you list copyrights in their own section, you can use a subheading for each one, much like you would in the Work Experience section to specify different job roles. In such a case, it should look like this:

PATENTS

Product Name ABC

• Smith, Jason. 2019. Product Name ABC. U.S. Patent 123456, filed January 1, 2019, and issued November 1, 2019.

Product Name DEF

• Smith, Jason. 2020. Product Name DEF. U.S. Patent 234567, filed January 30, 2020. Patent pending.

However, under a related work experience listing, it should be included as a normal bullet point with another bullet underneath like so:

• Co-invented a product for ABC (patent approved)
  • Smith, Jason. 2019. Product Name ABC. U.S. Patent 123456, filed January 1, 2019, and issued November 1, 2019.

Key Takeaways

1. Patents should be added to a resume if they are relevant to your field or the job you’re applying for. Even if they are not completely relevant and you wish to showcase your dedication and creativity, you may still add them to a resume.
2. They should not be buried but rather have their own section in the resume to be clearly visible and noticeable. They should be mentioned in the summary at the start of the document as well.
3. If they are related to a previous job role, they can be included in that job’s subheading as a bullet point.
4. All the information regarding them should be very carefully checked and included in the listings.
5. Following a simple template to list them is the best way to go about it. If space permits and if they are related to your industry, you may also add a couple of short sentences to describe your inventions.

FAQ

Should I list co-inventors of the patent on a resume?

It’s best not to specify other inventors on your resume. However, you may use a word like ‘co-developed’ or ‘co-invented’ when talking about a product to give credit to others that worked with you. You are not required to name anyone other than yourself on your own resume, however.

Should I create a new section for patents?

Yes, most of the time, you should have a separate section while listing patents on resume. That is because having their own section makes them clearer and more noticeable.

However, you can also list them with your previous work experiences if they were developed as part of the job.