IPOS Patent Status Review

Look up published administrative status for up to 20 exact Singapore patent application numbers. The result is a small JSON batch for an IP portfolio data integrator's human docket reconciliation, with optional comparisons to previously observed facts.

Input

The prefilled form, omitted-field defaults, and API example use the same real source number. examples/input.json is the run payload; examples/api-example.json supplies the documented Update Actor API exampleRunInput body and content type for the separately authorized native handoff. That metadata file does not apply a platform update by itself.

{
  "applicationNumbers": ["11202308403S"],
  "previousFacts": []
}

applicationNumbers accepts 1–20 known identifiers, each consisting of 1–32 letters or digits. Matching preserves case. Duplicate numbers produce one lookup and at most one custom charge. previousFacts is optional and accepts up to 20 objects with applicationNumber and at least one of sourceStatus or sourceLastModifiedDate; only numbers in the request are accepted, and duplicate prior identities are rejected. A prior fact is a nonempty raw string or null for unknown.

{
  "applicationNumbers": ["11202308403S"],
  "previousFacts": [
    {
      "applicationNumber": "11202308403S",
      "sourceStatus": "Pending (Published)",
      "sourceLastModifiedDate": "2026-07-23"
    }
  ]
}

The prior strings above illustrate the structure using the recorded source observation of 12 October 2026; they are not promised current values.

Results and coverage

The default Dataset contains one row per unique requested number, including diagnostic rows. The default key-value store's REPORT contains the same saved rows plus coverage, billing, source attribution, licence and scope. The Actor Output tab links to both stores.

Field	Meaning
applicationNumber	The exact requested identifier.
sourceStatus	Raw published applicationStatus, or null when unknown or excluded by budget.
sourceLastModifiedDate	Raw case lastModifiedDate, or null; no legal date interpretation.
observedAt	UTC observation time and source access date.
comparison	baseline_only, changed, unchanged, or unknown.
changedFields	Mutually observed fields whose raw prior and current strings differ.
sourceDatasetUrl	Official dataset attribution link.
sourceDatasetRefreshTimeIfObserved	A dataset refresh time only if directly observed; otherwise null.
scope	Administrative facts for human review.
unknownReason	The reason for missing, ambiguous, failed, partial, unprocessed, or budget-excluded facts; otherwise null.

baseline_only establishes the current observed baseline when no prior facts are supplied. Comparisons use only fields with nonempty values in both the supplied prior record and the current source record. Missing fields remain unknown, and partially observed cases do not claim a complete unchanged comparison. A case with a useful status but a missing source date can still be a billable status observation. A dataset refresh timestamp is never substituted for a case's lastModifiedDate.

The recorded official-source probe at 2026-10-12T13:43:39.791Z returned one exact 11202308403S row with applicationStatus: "Pending (Published)" and lastModifiedDate: "2026-07-23". The same live lookup is used at run time, so later status and date values may differ. It does not return a fixed demo row.

The following illustrates that recorded source observation in the output format. It is an explanatory sample, not evidence of a cloud Actor run or a settled charge:

{
  "applicationNumber": "11202308403S",
  "sourceStatus": "Pending (Published)",
  "sourceLastModifiedDate": "2026-07-23",
  "observedAt": "2026-10-12T13:43:39.791Z",
  "comparison": "baseline_only",
  "changedFields": [],
  "sourceDatasetUrl": "https://data.gov.sg/datasets/d_cb395225d1dcf91cc795f83e572c5e0e/view",
  "sourceDatasetRefreshTimeIfObserved": null,
  "scope": "Published IPOS administrative facts for human review; no legal rights, validity, deadlines or renewal advice.",
  "unknownReason": null
}

REPORT.coverage distinguishes requestedCases, uniqueCases, sourceCalls, observedCases, unknownCases, unprocessedCases, eligibleCases, savedEligibleCases, budgetExcludedCases, and stopReason. Read those counts with the individual unknownReason values. A missing exact row, multiple rows, a failed request, a size or time limit, and a number skipped after a stop are unknowns. They never mean there is no patent, that rights ended, or that nothing changed.

Price and budget

The proposed Pay-per-event custom price is $0.02 USD for patent_status_observed: one unique exact case with a useful published administrative status saved to the outputs. An unchanged status is still a new observed snapshot. Missing, ambiguous, all-unknown, invalid, failed and diagnostic-only cases incur 0 custom events. Dataset rows have no additional item charge.

An automatic platform startup charge of $0.00005 USD is separate. Zero custom events does not mean zero total charge. Reserve startup cost in the run budget: $0.02005 funds one custom observation plus startup, and $0.40005 funds at most 20 custom observations plus startup. Prices are a local release proposal until platform pricing is separately configured and verified.

The Actor determines funded useful capacity before saving useful content to any Dataset, key-value report or checkpoint. It persists the funded results before requesting the corresponding exact event count. If budget cannot fund a useful case, its saved row withholds the status and source date and records unknownReason: "budget_excluded". REPORT.billing records the event name, unit price, settled units, whether the charge count is exact, and custom-charge status. An uncertain prior charge stops safely instead of blindly charging again.

Source, limits and attribution

Source: Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), published via data.gov.sg's IPOS patent dataset. Selected factual data is used under the Singapore Open Data Licence. Documentation source access date: 12 October 2026; every result carries its own access time in observedAt. The data has been projected to the three needed source fields and converted into a review row. This Actor is not endorsed by IPOS or the Singapore Government. The licence does not confer patent rights or rights to excluded personal or third-party material.

The Actor uses the official anonymous Datastore Search API with exact filters, the three-field projection applicationNumber,applicationStatus,lastModifiedDate, and a two-row limit to detect ambiguity. It makes at most one request per unique case, with requests at least 3.1 seconds apart, a 20-second HTTP timeout, a 200,000-byte response cap, and a 100-second internal runtime cap. The proposed default platform run timeout is 110 seconds with 256 MB memory; those API run options require the native handoff to be applied and verified.

The documented anonymous Datastore Search limit is four requests per ten seconds. A 429 response stops further source requests in that run without retries and preserves explicit partial coverage. The API guide strongly recommends a production key; the current small anonymous scope uses no source key, browser, proxy or login.

Shared egress limits across simultaneous runs remain unresolved. Per-run spacing does not coordinate requests from other runs sharing an IP address. The documented Apify account concurrency limits are per user, and the Actor API's standby request limits regulate request routing within standby runs. Neither establishes a cross-run source rate limit for this Actor. Scaling beyond the controlled small anonymous experiment is on hold until aggregate source access can be bounded; unlimited concurrent use is not promised.

This output supports a human review of published administrative facts. It does not include applicant, inventor or agent identities, addresses, claims, documents, ownership, patent-rights validity, legal deadlines, renewal instructions or payments. Source completeness and the legal meaning of a status are not guaranteed by this dataset. Use the authoritative legal register and a qualified professional when those questions are part of the job.

Local release state

This package is prepared for local implementation and independent review. Actor creation, push, cloud build, paid run, pricing activation and publication require separate manager approval. A local schema or test result alone does not establish a recognized cloud Output schema, a settled live charge, source access from Apify's cloud, or a public listing.