# Competitor Patent Tracking

**Use case:** 

Name the companies you compete with and get their filing history year by year, counted exactly rather than sampled. A company's patent rate moves years before its products do, which makes this one of the few public signals of where a rival is heading.

## Input

```json
{
  "query": "",
  "assignees": [
    "Samsung",
    "LG",
    "Panasonic"
  ],
  "sinceYear": 2016,
  "country": "",
  "onlyGranted": false,
  "maxPatents": 120,
  "outputMode": "assignees",
  "minPatentsPerAssignee": 1
}
```

## Output

```json
{
  "assignee": {
    "label": "Company"
  },
  "totalMatchingFiled": {
    "label": "Total matching"
  },
  "patentsRead": {
    "label": "Patents read"
  },
  "trend": {
    "label": "Trend"
  },
  "whyTrend": {
    "label": "Why"
  },
  "filingsByPriorityYear": {
    "label": "Filings by year"
  },
  "filingsCountedExactly": {
    "label": "Exact counts"
  },
  "firstPriorityYear": {
    "label": "First filed"
  },
  "latestPriorityYear": {
    "label": "Last filed"
  },
  "internationalSharePercent": {
    "label": "International %"
  },
  "grantedSharePercent": {
    "label": "Granted %"
  },
  "topInventors": {
    "label": "Top inventors"
  },
  "recentPatents": {
    "label": "Recent filings"
  }
}
```

## About this Actor

This example demonstrates how to use [Patent Landscape Tracker: Who Is Patenting What](https://apify.com/precious_bathmat/patent-landscape-tracker.md) with a specific input configuration. Visit the [Actor detail page](https://apify.com/precious_bathmat/patent-landscape-tracker.md) to learn more, explore other use cases, and run it yourself.


## How to integrate an Actor?

This Task's input is already configured above. Use it as-is rather than inventing a new one.

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 full API examples (JavaScript, Python, CLI, MCP, OpenAPI), see this Task's Actor page: https://apify.com/precious_bathmat/patent-landscape-tracker.md

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`).