⚖️ USPTO Patent Assignments Scraper

🚀 Export patent ownership records from the USPTO Assignment Center in seconds. Search by assignee, assignor, patent number, application number, publication number, PCT number, or reel/frame reference and download the full chain-of-title history as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML.

🕒 Last updated: 2026-05-21 · 📊 19 fields per record · Millions of assignments · Full USPTO coverage since 1980

The USPTO Patent Assignments Scraper pulls ownership transfer records directly from the USPTO Assignment Center (assignmentcenter.uspto.gov), the official replacement for the retired Assignment Search portal. Every assignment record includes assignor names, assignee names, conveyance type, patent and application numbers, invention titles, filing and issue dates, reel/frame reference, correspondent details, and the execution and recordation dates - everything needed to reconstruct the chain of title for any U.S. patent.

The dataset covers more than 40 years of assignment activity - millions of records from individual inventors transferring rights to corporations, through mergers and acquisitions, security agreements, government licenses, and more. All data is scraped in real time directly from the official USPTO source, never from a cached mirror.

Target Audience / Use Cases

Who	Why
IP attorneys & paralegals	Verify chain of title, draft assignment agreements, due diligence
Competitive intelligence teams	Track technology acquisitions and patent portfolio movements
Investors & M&A analysts	Identify patent-rich acquisition targets, map IP ownership changes
Academic researchers	Study patent market dynamics, technology transfer trends
Journalists & journalists	Investigate IP deals and corporate patent strategies
Patent licensing professionals	Find current patent owners for licensing negotiations

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📋 What the USPTO Patent Assignments Scraper does

• Searches the USPTO Assignment Center by assignee name, assignor name, patent number, application number, publication number, PCT number, or reel/frame number
• Paginates automatically through all result pages until maxItems is reached
• Extracts all 19 fields per assignment record including full assignee/assignor arrays, all associated patent numbers, invention titles, filing dates, and correspondent details
• Exports to CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML via the Apify dataset
• Supports partial (contains) and exact match modes for name-based searches
• Filters by date range (recorded date from/to) to narrow results

💡 Why it matters: Patent ownership determines who can license, enforce, or sell a technology. A single acquisition can transfer thousands of patents at once. Having a programmatic way to query this data - without navigating the web UI manually - saves hours of research per case.

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🎬 Full Demo

🚧 Coming soon

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⚙️ Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
maxItems	integer	10	Maximum number of records to return. Free users are capped at 10.
searchField	select	assigneeName	Which field to search: assigneeName, assignorName, patentNumber, applicationNumber, publicationNumber, pctNumber, or reelFrame.
searchQuery	string	Apple	The value to search for. Use a company or person name for assignee/assignor. Use a number for patent/application. Use format 28725/607 for reel/frame.
matchType	select	Contains	Whether to use a partial (contains) or exact match. Applies to name-based searches.
dateFrom	string		Optional. Limit to assignments recorded on or after this date (MM/DD/YYYY).
dateTo	string		Optional. Limit to assignments recorded on or before this date (MM/DD/YYYY).

Example 1 - Search by assignee name (partial match):

{
    "maxItems": 100,
    "searchField": "assigneeName",
    "searchQuery": "Qualcomm",
    "matchType": "Contains"
}

Example 2 - Look up a specific patent number:

{
    "maxItems": 10,
    "searchField": "patentNumber",
    "searchQuery": "10000000"
}

⚠️ Good to Know: The reelFrame search expects the format REEL/FRAME (e.g. 028725/607). Date filters use MM/DD/YYYY format (e.g. 01/01/2020). Free users are limited to 10 records per run regardless of maxItems.

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📊 Output

Each record contains up to 19 fields:

Field	Type	Description
🗂️ reelFrame	string	Reel/frame identifier (e.g. 028725/0607)
📋 conveyanceText	string	Type of transfer (e.g. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST)
📅 recordedDate	string	Date the assignment was recorded at USPTO
📅 executionDate	string	Date the assignment document was executed
🏢 assignees	array	List of assignee names (new patent owners)
👤 assignors	array	List of assignors with names and execution dates
🔢 patentNumbers	array	Patent numbers covered by this assignment
📝 applicationNumbers	array	Application numbers covered
📄 publicationNumbers	array	Pre-grant publication numbers
💡 inventionTitles	array	Titles of the inventions being assigned
📅 filingDates	array	Filing dates of the applications
📅 issueDates	array	Issue dates of the patents
🧑‍🔬 inventors	string	Inventor names
📬 correspondentName	string	Name of the filing correspondent
📍 correspondentAddress	string	Address of the correspondent
📁 attorneyDocketNumber	string	Attorney docket number
🔢 noOfProperties	integer	Number of patents/applications in the assignment
🔗 sourceUrl	string	Link to the record on USPTO Assignment Center
🕒 scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp when the record was collected

Sample records:

[
  {
    "reelFrame": "028725/0607",
    "conveyanceText": "ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST",
    "recordedDate": "05/11/2012",
    "executionDate": "05/11/2012",
    "assignees": ["APPLE"],
    "assignors": [{"name": "ROCKSTAR BIDCO, LP", "executionDate": "05/11/2012"}],
    "patentNumbers": ["7110785"],
    "applicationNumbers": ["09696491"],
    "publicationNumbers": [],
    "inventionTitles": ["PERFORMING POWER CONTROL IN A MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM"],
    "filingDates": ["10/25/2000"],
    "issueDates": ["09/19/2006"],
    "inventors": "David Paranchych W., Yiping Wang, Ashvin Chheda H.",
    "correspondentName": "MEYERTONS HOOD KIVLIN KOWERT & GOETZEL",
    "correspondentAddress": null,
    "attorneyDocketNumber": null,
    "noOfProperties": 1,
    "sourceUrl": "https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/search/patent?reelNumber=28725&frameNumber=607",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-05-21T17:05:13.660Z"
  },
  {
    "reelFrame": "028667/0677",
    "conveyanceText": "ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST",
    "recordedDate": "05/11/2012",
    "executionDate": "05/11/2012",
    "assignees": ["APPLE"],
    "assignors": [{"name": "ROCKSTAR BIDCO, LP", "executionDate": "05/11/2012"}],
    "patentNumbers": ["5826181"],
    "applicationNumbers": ["08731035"],
    "publicationNumbers": [],
    "inventionTitles": ["RADIO FREQUENCY NOISE REDUCTION ARRANGEMENT"],
    "filingDates": ["10/10/1996"],
    "issueDates": ["10/20/1998"],
    "inventors": "CHRISTOPHER REED J.",
    "correspondentName": "MEYERTONS HOOD KIVLIN KOWERT & GOETZEL",
    "correspondentAddress": null,
    "attorneyDocketNumber": null,
    "noOfProperties": 1,
    "sourceUrl": "https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/search/patent?reelNumber=28667&frameNumber=677",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-05-21T17:05:13.661Z"
  },
  {
    "reelFrame": "028750/0088",
    "conveyanceText": "ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST",
    "recordedDate": "05/11/2012",
    "executionDate": "05/11/2012",
    "assignees": ["APPLE"],
    "assignors": [{"name": "ROCKSTAR BIDCO, LP", "executionDate": "05/11/2012"}],
    "patentNumbers": ["7180871"],
    "applicationNumbers": ["10173093"],
    "publicationNumbers": [],
    "inventionTitles": ["ROUND TRIP TIMEOUT ADJUSTMENT IN A CELLULAR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM"],
    "filingDates": ["06/15/2002"],
    "issueDates": ["02/20/2007"],
    "inventors": "Farid Khafizov T., Mehmet Yavuz, Nanping Ding",
    "correspondentName": "MEYERTONS HOOD KIVLIN KOWERT & GOETZEL",
    "correspondentAddress": null,
    "attorneyDocketNumber": null,
    "noOfProperties": 1,
    "sourceUrl": "https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/search/patent?reelNumber=28750&frameNumber=88",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-05-21T17:05:13.661Z"
  }
]

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✨ Why choose this Actor

• 🔄 Real-time data - scraped live from the official USPTO Assignment Center on every run
• 🆕 New API - uses the assignmentcenter.uspto.gov endpoint that replaced the retired legacy assignment API in September 2025
• 🔍 7 search modes - find records by assignee, assignor, patent number, application, publication, PCT, or reel/frame
• 📑 19 fields per record - full chain-of-title details including all parties, dates, docket numbers, and source links
• 📦 Batch export - download CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML directly from the Apify dataset
• 💰 Pay-per-result - you only pay for items actually collected
• 🚫 No login required - all data is public and accessible without a USPTO account

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📈 How it compares to alternatives

Feature	This Actor	Manual USPTO UI	Legacy Assignment API	PatentsView
Data source	Assignment Center (live)	Assignment Center (live)	Retired (2025)	Historical bulk only
Programmatic access	Yes	No	Retired	Deprecated
Search by assignee	Yes	Yes	Yes	Limited
Search by patent #	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bulk export (CSV/JSON)	Yes	1 page at a time	Yes	Bulk download only
Pagination	Automatic	Manual	Manual	N/A
Pay-per-result pricing	Yes	Free	Free	Free

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🚀 How to use

1. Create a free account at Apify (includes $5 in free credit)
2. Open the USPTO Patent Assignments Scraper actor page and click Try for free
3. Choose your search field (e.g. Assignee Name) and enter your search query (e.g. Tesla)
4. Optionally set maxItems and a date range
5. Click Start and wait for the run to finish (typically seconds to minutes)
6. Download your dataset as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML

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💼 Business use cases

Due Diligence and M&A

Before acquiring a company, legal and M&A teams need to verify the company actually owns the patents it claims. This scraper lets you pull the full chain-of-title for any patent portfolio - checking every assignment from the original inventor filing through to current ownership. Gaps or undisclosed transfers can surface IP encumbrances that affect deal value.

Patent Portfolio Monitoring

Technology companies and law firms track competitor patent activity over time. By scheduling this actor to run weekly with a competitor's name as the assignee, you can receive automated alerts whenever a new patent assignment is recorded - surfacing acquisitions, licensing deals, and security agreements before they become public news.

Licensing Negotiation Support

If you want to license a technology, you need to know who currently owns the patent. The USPTO assignment database is the authoritative source. This scraper lets you quickly confirm the current owner and trace the history back to the original inventor - useful for structuring licensing negotiations and understanding the IP's commercial history.

Academic Research on Technology Transfer

Researchers studying how technology moves from universities to industry, from startups to large corporations, or across national boundaries can use this data to build quantitative models of patent market dynamics. The scraper's ability to filter by date range and search by any field makes it well-suited for constructing longitudinal datasets.

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🔌 Automating USPTO Patent Assignments Scraper

Connect this actor to your workflow with no-code tools:

• Make (Integromat) - trigger a run and send new assignment records to Google Sheets, Airtable, or Slack
• Zapier - automate alerts when specific assignees or patent numbers appear in new assignments
• n8n - build IP monitoring pipelines that run on a schedule and push to your data warehouse
• Webhooks - get notified immediately when a run completes via Apify's built-in webhook system

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🌟 Beyond business use cases

Independent Inventors

Individual inventors can use this scraper to research the historical ownership of patents in their technology area - identifying potential licensing partners or checking whether a company they want to approach has previously acquired similar IP.

Journalism and Investigative Research

Journalists covering Big Tech, pharma, or defense can use assignment records to trace how major patent portfolios were assembled. The Nortel/Rockstar transaction that transferred thousands of wireless patents to a consortium including Apple and Microsoft is fully documented in the assignment database.

Non-Profit and Policy Research

Policy researchers studying patent concentration, technology transfer from publicly funded research, or the impact of patent assertion entities can build comprehensive datasets from this source to support evidence-based advocacy.

Education

Patent assignment data is used in law school clinics and IP courses to teach students how to conduct chain-of-title searches and understand the commercial life of a patent beyond the grant.

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🤖 Ask an AI assistant about this scraper

You can ask your AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.) questions like:

• "How do I search USPTO patent assignments for a specific company?"
• "What fields are available in USPTO assignment records?"
• "How do I track patent acquisitions for a competitor using Apify?"
• "What is a reel/frame number in USPTO assignments?"

The answers will reference this actor and the USPTO Assignment Center data.

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

What is a patent assignment? A patent assignment is the legal transfer of ownership rights in a patent from one party (the assignor) to another (the assignee). Assignments must be recorded with the USPTO to be effective against third parties.

What is the reel/frame number? The reel/frame is the USPTO's internal document identifier for each recorded assignment. It uniquely identifies the assignment document and can be used to retrieve the original scanned document image.

How current is the data? Data is fetched live from the USPTO Assignment Center on every run. Assignments are typically visible within 1-3 business days of being recorded at the USPTO.

Can I search for all patents assigned to a company? Yes. Use searchField: assigneeName with matchType: Contains and the company name as searchQuery. The actor paginates automatically.

What replaced the old assignment-api.uspto.gov endpoint? The legacy assignment-api.uspto.gov API was retired in September 2025. The replacement is the USPTO Assignment Center at assignmentcenter.uspto.gov, which this actor uses.

Can I filter by date range? Yes. Use the dateFrom and dateTo fields in MM/DD/YYYY format to limit results to assignments recorded within a specific date range.

What is the difference between Contains and Exact match? Contains returns any record where the name field includes your search query as a substring. Exact requires a full-name match. Contains is recommended for company name searches; Exact is useful when you know the precise legal name.

How many records can I retrieve per run? Free users are limited to 10 records. Paid users can retrieve up to 1,000,000 records per run.

Does this require a USPTO account? No. The assignment search is a public service and no login is required.

Can I search by inventor name? The USPTO Assignment Center does not expose a direct inventor search field. You can search by assignee or assignor name and then filter the inventors field in the output. For inventor-based searches, consider using the USPTO Patent Center search.

Are security agreements and licenses included? Yes. The conveyanceText field captures all assignment types including security interest, license, merger, name change, and assignment of assignor's interest.

Can I get the PDF document for a specific assignment? Each record includes a sourceUrl linking to the Assignment Center page for that reel/frame. The original scanned document image is accessible from there.

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🔌 Integrate with any app

Connect your dataset to 1,500+ apps via Apify integrations:

Analytics: Google Sheets, Airtable, Microsoft Excel, Tableau, Power BI Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, BigQuery, Snowflake Communication: Slack, Microsoft Teams, email notifications Storage: Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Azure Blob Automation: Make, Zapier, n8n, Pipedream

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Disclaimer: This tool accesses publicly available data from the USPTO Assignment Center in compliance with the USPTO's terms of use. It is intended for legitimate research, legal, and business purposes. ParseForge is not affiliated with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Users are responsible for ensuring their use of the data complies with applicable laws and regulations.