USPTO Database

Overview

USPTO provides specialized APIs for patent and trademark data. Search patents by keywords/inventors/assignees, retrieve examination history via PEDS, track assignments, analyze citations and office actions, access TSDR for trademarks, for IP analysis and prior art searches.

When to Use This Skill

This skill should be used when:

• Patent Search: Finding patents by keywords, inventors, assignees, classifications, or dates
• Patent Details: Retrieving full patent data including claims, abstracts, citations
• Trademark Search: Looking up trademarks by serial or registration number
• Trademark Status: Checking trademark status, ownership, and prosecution history
• Examination History: Accessing patent prosecution data from PEDS (Patent Examination Data System)
• Office Actions: Retrieving office action text, citations, and rejections
• Assignments: Tracking patent/trademark ownership transfers
• Citations: Analyzing patent citations (forward and backward)
• Litigation: Accessing patent litigation records
• Portfolio Analysis: Analyzing patent/trademark portfolios for companies or inventors

USPTO API Ecosystem

The USPTO provides multiple specialized APIs for different data needs:

Core APIs

1. PatentSearch API - Modern ElasticSearch-based patent search (replaced legacy PatentsView in May 2025)

   • Search patents by keywords, inventors, assignees, classifications, dates
   • Access to patent data through June 30, 2025
   • 45 requests/minute rate limit
   • Base URL: https://search.patentsview.org/api/v1/

2. PEDS (Patent Examination Data System) - Patent examination history

   • Application status and transaction history from 1981-present
   • Office action dates and examination events
   • Use uspto-opendata-python Python library
   • Replaced: PAIR Bulk Data (PBD) - decommissioned

3. TSDR (Trademark Status & Document Retrieval) - Trademark data

   • Trademark status, ownership, prosecution history
   • Search by serial or registration number
   • Base URL: https://tsdrapi.uspto.gov/ts/cd/

Additional APIs

4. Patent Assignment Search - Ownership records and transfers
5. Trademark Assignment Search - Trademark ownership changes
6. Enriched Citation API - Patent citation analysis
7. Office Action Text Retrieval - Full text of office actions
8. Office Action Citations - Citations from office actions
9. Office Action Rejection - Rejection reasons and types
10. PTAB API - Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings
11. Patent Litigation Cases - Federal district court litigation data
12. Cancer Moonshot Data Set - Cancer-related patents

Quick Start

API Key Registration

All USPTO APIs require an API key. Register at: https://account.uspto.gov/api-manager/

Set the API key as an environment variable:

export USPTO_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

Helper Scripts

This skill includes Python scripts for common operations:

• scripts/patent_search.py - PatentSearch API client for searching patents
• scripts/peds_client.py - PEDS client for examination history
• scripts/trademark_client.py - TSDR client for trademark data

Task 1: Searching Patents

Using the PatentSearch API

The PatentSearch API uses a JSON query language with various operators for flexible searching.

Basic Patent Search Examples

Search by keywords in abstract:

from scripts.patent_search import PatentSearchClient

client = PatentSearchClient()

# Search for machine learning patents
results = client.search_patents({
    "patent_abstract": {"_text_all": ["machine", "learning"]}
})

for patent in results['patents']:
    print(f"{patent['patent_number']}: {patent['patent_title']}")

Search by inventor:

results = client.search_by_inventor("John Smith")

Search by assignee/company:

results = client.search_by_assignee("Google")

Search by date range:

results = client.search_by_date_range("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31")

Search by CPC classification:

results = client.search_by_classification("H04N")  # Video/image tech

Advanced Patent Search

Combine multiple criteria with logical operators:

results = client.advanced_search(
    keywords=["artificial", "intelligence"],
    assignee="Microsoft",
    start_date="2023-01-01",
    end_date="2024-12-31",
    cpc_codes=["G06N", "G06F"]  # AI and computing classifications
)

Direct API Usage

For complex queries, use the API directly:

import requests

url = "https://search.patentsview.org/api/v1/patent"
headers = {
    "X-Api-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

query = {
    "q": {
        "_and": [
            {"patent_date": {"_gte": "2024-01-01"}},
            {"assignee_organization": {"_text_any": ["Google", "Alphabet"]}},
            {"cpc_subclass_id": ["G06N", "H04N"]}
        ]
    },
    "f": ["patent_number", "patent_title", "patent_date", "inventor_name"],
    "s": [{"patent_date": "desc"}],
    "o": {"per_page": 100, "page": 1}
}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=query)
results = response.json()

Query Operators

• Equality: {"field": "value"} or {"field": {"_eq": "value"}}
• Comparison: _gt, _gte, _lt, _lte, _neq
• Text search: _text_all, _text_any, _text_phrase
• String matching: _begins, _contains
• Logical: _and, _or, _not

Best Practice: Use _text_* operators for text fields (more performant than _contains or _begins)

Available Patent Endpoints

• /patent - Granted patents
• /publication - Pregrant publications
• /inventor - Inventor information
• /assignee - Assignee information
• /cpc_subclass, /cpc_at_issue - CPC classifications
• /uspc - US Patent Classification
• /ipc - International Patent Classification
• /claims, /brief_summary_text, /detail_description_text - Text data (beta)

Reference Documentation

See references/patentsearch_api.md for complete PatentSearch API documentation including:

• All available endpoints
• Complete field reference
• Query syntax and examples
• Response formats
• Rate limits and best practices

Task 2: Retrieving Patent Examination Data

Using PEDS (Patent Examination Data System)

PEDS provides comprehensive prosecution history including transaction events, status changes, and examination timeline.

Installation

uv pip install uspto-opendata-python

Basic PEDS Usage

Get application data:

from scripts.peds_client import PEDSHelper

helper = PEDSHelper()

# By application number
app_data = helper.get_application("16123456")
print(f"Title: {app_data['title']}")
print(f"Status: {app_data['app_status']}")

# By patent number
patent_data = helper.get_patent("11234567")

Get transaction history:

transactions = helper.get_transaction_history("16123456")

for trans in transactions:
    print(f"{trans['date']}: {trans['code']} - {trans['description']}")

Get office actions:

office_actions = helper.get_office_actions("16123456")

for oa in office_actions:
    if oa['code'] == 'CTNF':
        print(f"Non-final rejection: {oa['date']}")
    elif oa['code'] == 'CTFR':