USPTO & Global Patents Extractor

Search USPTO and global patents through Google Patents' free public index. Pull structured patent records by keyword, assignee or inventor — title, abstract snippet, dates, inventors, assignee and PDF link. No API key needed.

Unofficial tool. This Actor is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Google LLC / USPTO. It is an independent tool that collects publicly available information.

What it does

Google Patents aggregates USPTO, EPO, WIPO and national patent offices into one searchable index with a public front end. This Actor queries that index and returns structured records — title, abstract snippet, priority/filing/grant dates, inventors, assignee and a direct PDF link.

Search by free text (solar cell), scope with operators (assignee:"Apple", inventor:"Smith"), and page through results for a patent-landscape view.

Features

• Free-text patent search — supports Google Patents operators.
• Assignee and inventor scoping — assignee:, inventor: filters.
• Structured records — title, abstract snippet, dates, inventors, assignee, PDF link, family size.
• Direct PDF links — fetch the full document from Google Patents.
• Auto-paged — maxResults walks the result pages.
• No API key required.

What people use it for

• Patent landscaping — map who's filing in a technology area.
• Freedom-to-operate research — find blocking patents by assignee.
• Competitive intelligence — track a rival's patent output.
• Inventor tracking — follow a researcher's filings.
• Prior-art discovery for a new application.

Search operators

Google Patents supports fielded queries that sharpen results:

Goal	Query
Everything mentioning a term	solar cell
By assignee	assignee:"Apple"
By inventor	inventor:"Smith"
By classification	cpc:H02J (Cooperative Patent Classification)

Dates and family size

• priorityDate — when the first application was filed (earliest right). - filingDate / grantDate — the application and grant events. - familySize — how many linked documents share the priority — a proxy for how broadly the invention is protected across jurisdictions.

Input

query is required and accepts Google Patents search operators. maxResults caps the pull.

Field	Type	Default	What it does
query (required)	string	—	Free-text patent search. Supports Google Patents operators: 'solar cell', 'assignee:"Apple"', 'inventor:"Smith"', 'title:"wireless charging"'. Covers USPTO and global patent offices.
maxResults	integer	25	Maximum number of patents to return (1-500). The actor pages automatically. Range 1–500.
proxyConfiguration	object	see below	Google Patents is publicly accessible and usually does not need a proxy. Enable only if you are rate-limited or blocked.

Input example

{
  "query": "solar cell",
  "maxResults": 5,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}

Output

One record per patent: id, URL, title, abstract snippet, publication number, dates, inventors, assignee, PDF link and family size.

Every dataset record contains: patentId, url, title, snippet, publicationNumber, priorityDate, filingDate, grantDate, publicationDate, inventors, assignee, pdfUrl, familySize, fetchedAt.

Output example

A real record from a run of this Actor:

{
  "patentId": "CN113512730B",
  "url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/CN113512730B/en",
  "title": "A floating solar photovoltaic and thermal coupling water electrolysis hydrogen …",
  "snippet": "The invention discloses a floating solar photovoltaic photo-thermal coupling electrolytic water hydrogen production system and a method, wherein the system comprises a floating bracket, a photo-thermal module and a hydro …",
  "publicationNumber": "CN113512730B",
  "priorityDate": "2021-04-08",
  "filingDate": "2021-04-08",
  "grantDate": "2024-05-07",
  "publicationDate": "2024-05-07",
  "inventors": "陈玉彬",
  "assignee": "西安交通大学",
  "pdfUrl": "69/59/d0/3bce0574597902/CN113512730B.pdf",
  "familySize": "",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-08-21T12:59:05.697Z"
}

Export the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or JSONL from the Console, or pull it programmatically through the Apify API and any of the official clients.

How to use it

1. Click Try for free (or Start if you already have an Apify account).
2. Fill in the input fields described above — the defaults already produce a working run.
3. Press Start and watch the log; results stream into the dataset as they are found.
4. When the run finishes, open the Output/Storage tab and export as JSON, CSV or Excel.

Runs can be scheduled (hourly, daily, weekly) and wired into Slack, Google Sheets, Zapier, Make, webhooks or your own backend through Apify integrations. Everything the Console does is also available over the Apify API.

Proxy configuration

This Actor accepts a standard Apify proxy configuration object. Residential proxy is the default because the target site rate-limits datacenter IP ranges; you can select a specific exit country or supply your own proxy URLs.

{
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}

Pricing

This Actor is billed on Apify's pay-per-event model: a small charge when a run starts, plus a charge for each result written to the dataset. You only pay for records you actually receive — a run that finds nothing costs only the start event. Current rates are always shown on the Pricing tab of this page, and the run log prints your usage as it goes.

Free-plan credits from Apify cover a large amount of light usage, so you can evaluate the Actor before committing to anything.

FAQ

Do I need an API key?

No. Google Patents is publicly accessible; this reads its index.

Is this the official USPTO data?

It comes via Google Patents, which aggregates USPTO and other offices. For authoritative legal status, cross-check the patent on the official USPTO or regional office register.

Can I get the full patent text?

Each record includes a pdfUrl to the full document on Google Patents.

Why is the abstract a 'snippet'?

The index returns a snippet; the full specification is in the linked PDF. For bulk full text, fetch the PDFs via the provided links.

Is this affiliated with Google or the USPTO?

No. It queries Google Patents' public index and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by Google or the USPTO.

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Legal and responsible use

This Actor collects only publicly available information. You are responsible for how you use the data, including compliance with the target site's Terms of Service, robots directives, copyright, and data protection law such as GDPR and CCPA. Do not use it to gather personal data without a lawful basis.

Support and feedback

Found a bug, hit a site change, or need an extra field? Open a ticket on the Issues tab of this Actor — issues are read and fixed. Feature requests and custom-scraper enquiries are welcome through the same channel.