# Google Patents Scraper — Search, Detail & Citations (`noahadler/google-patents-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Google Patents by keyword or publication number: title, inventors, assignees, dates, PDF link, optional abstract, claims, forward citations and family members. Public patent records only — no login, no AI generation.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/noahadler/google-patents-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Noah Adler](https://apify.com/noahadler) (community)
- **Categories:** Other, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.40 / 1,000 patents

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Google Patents Scraper — Search, Detail & Citations

Scrape **Google Patents** (`patents.google.com`) by keyword, assignee, inventor, CPC, or publication number. One row per patent: **title**, **inventors**, **assignees**, **dates**, **PDF** link, and patent URL. Optional detail pass adds **abstract**, **claims**, **forward citations** (cited by), and related **family** links.

Public patent records only. No login. No AI generation of drawings or claims.

**Keywords:** google patents scraper · google patents api · patent search scraper · patent citations · patent family · prior art search

***

### What it does

| Step | Action |
|------|--------|
| 1 | Input: `searchQueries` + `maxItems` |
| 2 | Calls the public Google Patents search endpoint and normalizes each hit |
| 3 | Optional: `scrapeDetails` opens each `/patent/…` page for abstract, claims, citations |
| 4 | Pushes one clean JSON row per publication number |

Sibling Actor for published drawing sheets: **google-patents-figures**.

***

### Input

| Field | Required | Description |
|-------|----------|-------------|
| `searchQueries` | No | Queries as on Google Patents. Default `lithium battery` |
| `maxItems` | No | 1–500 rows (default 25) |
| `scrapeDetails` | No | `false` by default. Turns on abstract / claims / citations |
| `proxyConfiguration` | No | RESIDENTIAL **US** on Apify |

#### Example (Try it)

```json
{
  "searchQueries": ["lithium battery"],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "scrapeDetails": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}
```

***

### Output (one patent per row)

| Field | Notes |
|-------|--------|
| `publicationNumber` / `title` / `snippet` | From search |
| `inventors` / `assignees` | Arrays |
| `priorityDate` / `filingDate` / `publicationDate` / `grantDate` | When present |
| `pdfUrl` / `patentUrl` / `thumbnailUrl` | Links |
| `abstract` / `claims` / `forwardCitations` / `familyMembers` | Filled when `scrapeDetails` is true |

If nothing matches, one row with `error=true` and an actionable `errorMessage`.

***

### Notes

- Patent text and drawings are typically published by patent offices (see USPTO terms). Google indexes them; this Actor does not claim to be an official Google API.
- Prefer modest `maxItems` and schedules over bulk warehouse dumps (Google also publishes Patents Public Datasets on BigQuery for that).
- Source acknowledgement example: United States Patent and Trademark Office / national offices via Google Patents.

### Author

[noahadler](https://apify.com/noahadler) on Apify Store.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Queries as typed on Google Patents: lithium battery, assignee:Tesla, inventor:Koch, US10700376B2, CPC classification codes.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum patent rows across all queries (1–500).

## `scrapeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Visit each patent page for abstract, claims text, forward/backward citations, CPC codes and related family links. Slower; off by default so Try it stays on the search payload.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Google Patents search works over HTTP. On Apify use RESIDENTIAL with country US to reduce empty or blocked responses from datacenter IPs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "lithium battery"
  ],
  "maxItems": 25,
  "scrapeDetails": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `patents` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "lithium battery"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("noahadler/google-patents-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "searchQueries": ["lithium battery"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("noahadler/google-patents-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "lithium battery"
  ]
}' |
apify call noahadler/google-patents-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,noahadler/google-patents-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/09J47f3xcrqbNauHa/builds/ujBbgebhvrYgW2ccS/openapi.json