USPTO Public APIs

1. PatentsView API (Primary Patent Search)

The newer Elasticsearch-based API is the recommended endpoint.

Base URL

https://search.patentsview.org/api/v1/

API key required — register at https://patentsview.org/apis/keyrequest

Pass as query parameter: ?api_key=YOUR_KEY

Key Endpoints

Search patents

GET or POST /patent/

Query parameter q accepts a JSON query object.

Operators: _eq, _neq, _gt, _gte, _lt, _lte, _begins, _contains, _text_any, _text_all, _text_phrase, _and, _or, _not

Parameters:

• q — JSON query
• f — fields to return (JSON array)
• o — options: {"size": 25} for pagination
• s — sort: [{"patent_date": "desc"}]

Search by keyword

GET /patent/?q={"_text_any":{"patent_abstract":"autonomous vehicle"}}&f=["patent_id","patent_title","patent_date"]&o={"size":5}&api_key=KEY

Search by inventor

GET /patent/?q={"inventors.inventor_name_last":"Tesla"}&f=["patent_id","patent_title","patent_date"]&api_key=KEY

Search by assignee

GET /patent/?q={"assignees.assignee_organization":"Google LLC"}&f=["patent_id","patent_title","patent_date","assignees"]&api_key=KEY

Lookup by patent number

GET /patent/{patent_number}/?api_key=KEY

Other entity endpoints

/inventor/
/assignee/
/cpc_group/

Response Structure

{
  "patents": [
    {
      "patent_id": "11234567",
      "patent_title": "...",
      "patent_date": "2022-03-15",
      "patent_abstract": "...",
      "assignees": [{"assignee_organization": "..."}],
      "inventors": [{"inventor_name_first": "...", "inventor_name_last": "..."}]
    }
  ],
  "count": 1,
  "total_hits": 8923
}

Rate Limits

~45 requests per minute per API key.

Important Note

The user must have a PatentsView API key for this endpoint. If they don't have one, let them know they need to register at https://patentsview.org/apis/keyrequest. Load the key from .env as PATENTSVIEW_API_KEY.

Note: The legacy API at api.patentsview.org has been decommissioned (returns 410 Gone). Only the new API above works.

3. PEDS — Patent Examination Data System

URL: https://ped.uspto.gov/api/queries

Method: POST

For patent prosecution data (application status, filing dates, examiner info).

{
  "searchText": "applicationNumberText:16123456",
  "fl": "*",
  "mm": "100%",
  "df": "patentTitle",
  "facet": "false",
  "sort": "applId asc",
  "start": 0
}

No API key required but heavily rate limited. Availability can be unreliable.

4. TSDR — Trademark Status & Document Retrieval

For trademark lookup by serial or registration number (not full-text search).

GET https://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentxml/status/{serial_number}
GET https://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentxml/status/rn{registration_number}

Returns XML with mark details, status, owner, goods/services, prosecution history.

No API key. Rate limited. No JSON endpoint — responses are XML.

5. Limitations

• No public REST API for trademark full-text search (TESS is web-only)
• PatentsView new API requires registration for an API key
• PEDS availability is inconsistent
• TSDR requires knowing the serial/registration number already