# Prior Art Search Pro (Google Patents, Legal Status) (`red.cars/prior-art-search-pro`) Actor

Search the Google Patents index for prior art: keywords plus assignee, inventor, CPC class, priority-date window, granted/application status, patent vs. design, country and language. Flat rows with legal status. No login, no API key, no proxy. $0.005/run + $2.00 per 1,000 rows.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/red.cars/prior-art-search-pro.md
- **Developed by:** [AutomateLab](https://apify.com/red.cars) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## Prior Art Search Pro (Google Patents, Legal Status)

Search the Google Patents index for prior art: keyword queries plus assignee, inventor, CPC class, priority-date window, granted/application status, patent vs. design, country and language filters. Flat rows with title, abstract snippet, dates, assignee, inventor, publication number, Google Patents URL, PDF and legal status. $0.005/run + $2.00 per 1,000 rows.

### Why this actor

- **No login, no API key, no proxy.** Reads the public Google Patents search endpoint directly (plain HTTPS fetch, datacenter-friendly).
- **Filters that matter for prior art:** assignee, inventor, CPC class, priority date before/after (YYYYMMDD), granted vs. application, patent vs. design, country, language, newest-first or relevance.
- **Legal status per row:** family status and an `familyActive` boolean folded in from the index, so you can triage live patents vs. dead ones without opening every PDF.
- **Flat, predictable pricing:** $0.005 per run + $0.002 per row ($2.00 per 1,000). No enrichment tiers, no hidden per-event costs.
- **Clean rows:** HTML entities and highlight tags stripped; hard result caps (index itself caps any single query at 1,000 results); zero-result runs push one hint row (status ZERO_RESULTS) instead of charging you for nothing.

### Comparison

| Actor | 30-day users | Pricing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| **prior-art-search-pro (this)** | new | $0.005/run + $2.00/1k rows, flat | filters + legal status, no proxy, no tiers |
| khadinakbar/google-patents-scraper | 56 | $2.00/1k basic, $5.00/1k detailed (per-event tiers) | tiered enrichment pricing; paid events per depth |
| constructive_calm/google-patents-intelligence | 5 | $0.01/run + $2–8/1k per event | higher start cost, fewer users |
| nexgendata/uspto-patent-search | 1 | per-result event pricing | tiny user base |

Sources: Apify Store listings and public run stats, Oct 30, 2026.

### Input

| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `query` | string | Keyword query, e.g. `machine learning` or `cpc:G06F battery` |
| `maxResults` | number | 1–1000, default 10 (index caps any query at 1,000) |
| `assignee` | string | e.g. `Tesla` |
| `inventor` | string | e.g. `Muddu` |
| `cpc` | string | e.g. `G06F` |
| `before` / `after` | string | Priority-date window, YYYYMMDD |
| `status` | select | GRANT or APPLICATION |
| `type` | select | PATENT or DESIGN |
| `country` | string | e.g. `US` |
| `language` | string | e.g. `en` |
| `sortBy` | select | relevance (default) or newest |

### Output

One row per patent: `title`, `publicationNumber`, `url`, `snippet`, `assignee`, `inventor`, `priorityDate`, `filingDate`, `grantDate`, `publicationDate`, `language`, `country`, `legalStatus` (per-country state, e.g. ACTIVE), `familyActive`.

Zero-result runs push one row `{status: "ZERO_RESULTS", reason: ...}`. Nothing is charged for it.

### Pricing

- Actor start: **$0.005** per run.
- Result row: **$0.002** per row = **$2.00 per 1,000 rows**.
- No proxy. Platform usage is not billed to the user; our cost per 1,000 rows is far below price, so the actor never runs at negative margin.

### Pair it with Academic Research MCP

Cover both sides of a prior-art check: [Academic Research MCP](https://apify.com/red.cars/academic-research-mcp) searches 600M+ papers, grants, and citations across CrossRef, OpenAlex, PubMed and DBLP, while this actor pulls the patent record from Google Patents with legal status. One agent, two tool calls, literature plus patents.

### FAQ

**Do I need an API key?** No. The Google Patents search endpoint is public.

**Is there a result cap?** Yes, 1,000 rows per query, capped by the source index itself. For broad queries, narrow with assignee, CPC or date filters.

**How fresh is the data?** The index updates continuously; sortBy=newest returns latest publications first.

**Can I search by company?** Yes, use `assignee` (e.g. `Tesla`) alone or combined with `query`.

**What is `familyActive`?** True when the patent family's best stage is active in at least one country, folded in from the index's family metadata.

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

Free-text query, e.g. 'machine learning'. Combined with the other filters.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

How many patents to return (1-1000; the Google Patents index caps search results at 1,000 per query).

## `assignee` (type: `string`):

Optional assignee filter, e.g. 'Tesla'.

## `inventor` (type: `string`):

Optional inventor filter, e.g. 'John Smith'.

## `cpc` (type: `string`):

Optional CPC classification code, e.g. G06F or G06F17. Added to the query as cpc:<code>.

## `before` (type: `string`):

Optional upper date bound on the priority date, e.g. 20230101.

## `after` (type: `string`):

Optional lower date bound on the priority date, e.g. 20200101.

## `status` (type: `string`):

Optional: limit to granted patents or published applications.

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

Optional: utility patents or design patents.

## `country` (type: `string`):

Optional two-letter country filter, e.g. US, EP, WO, CN.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Optional language filter, e.g. ENGLISH, GERMAN.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Relevance or newest first.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "machine learning",
  "maxResults": 10,
  "assignee": "",
  "inventor": "",
  "cpc": "",
  "before": "",
  "after": "",
  "status": "",
  "type": "",
  "country": "",
  "language": "",
  "sortBy": "relevance"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Clean prior-art rows: title, publication number, direct URL, snippet, assignee, inventor, priority/filing/grant/publication dates, language, country, legal status per country, and a status/hint row when the search comes back empty or fails.

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("red.cars/prior-art-search-pro").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("red.cars/prior-art-search-pro").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 '{}' |
apify call red.cars/prior-art-search-pro --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,red.cars/prior-art-search-pro"
        }
    }
}
```

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/7Jq0NToKUMNVEoTd4/builds/GlKaFK59yLqMZB5WX/openapi.json