# Google Patents API – Patent Search, Claims & Legal Status (`rowfeed/google-patents-api`) Actor

Search Google Patents by keyword, company, country and date, or look up patent numbers: title, assignee, dates, PDF link, and optionally abstract, claims, legal status, expiry, CPC codes and citations. US, EP, WO, CN, JP and 100+ offices.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-patents-api.md
- **Developed by:** [Rowfeed](https://apify.com/rowfeed) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Developer tools, Automation
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 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.

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 API – Patent Search, Claims & Legal Status

Search Google Patents and get the results as clean rows: by keyword, by company, by patent office and by date, or look up patent numbers directly. Add the details to get the abstract, the claims, the legal status and expiry, CPC codes and citation counts.

Built for patent attorneys and IP teams doing prior-art and freedom-to-operate checks, for analysts tracking what competitors file, and for AI agents that need patent data mid-task.

### What you get

- **Search results:** publication number, title, assignee, priority, filing, publication and grant dates, language, the Google Patents link and the PDF link.
- **Filters:** keywords (Google Patents syntax works), companies, patent offices (US, EP, WO, CN, JP, KR and 100+ more), priority date range, granted or applications, and order.
- **Details** (optional): abstract, number of claims, the first claim, legal status (e.g. Active, Expired), expected expiry, application number, CPC codes, and how many documents it cites and how many cite it.
- **Patent number lookups** with full details, written any way: `US 11,923,482 B2` works, design (`USD…`) and reissue (`USRE…`) numbers too.
- Up to 1,000 patents per search.

### Example output row

A real row with details (long texts shortened here):

```json
{
  "search": "solid state battery",
  "rank": 1,
  "publication_number": "WO2013104046A1",
  "country": "WO",
  "title": "A system and method for assuring operational readiness of a mission critical battery having a long storage period",
  "snippet": "A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASSURING OPERATIONAL READINESS OF A MISSION CRITICAL BATTERY HAVING A LONG STORAGE PERIOD Technical Field This invention relates to the field of batteries designed for very lon …",
  "assignee": "Panacis Inc.",
  "priority_date": "2012-01-09",
  "filing_date": "2012-12-19",
  "publication_date": "2013-07-18",
  "grant_date": null,
  "language": "en",
  "url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2013104046A1/en",
  "pdf_url": "https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/4f/16/c5/b5bc207e6ec556/WO2013104046A1.pdf",
  "total_results": 107678,
  "abstract": null,
  "claims_count": 10,
  "first_claim": "A system for assuring operational readiness of a mission critical battery in a stored device, said mission critical battery having a long storage period, said system comprising: a. a primary charging battery for storing an electrical charge connected to; b. a charging control circuit disposed between said primary charging battery and; c. connected to the mission critical battery, wherein the missi …",
  "legal_status": "Ceased",
  "expiration_date": null,
  "application_number": "PCT/CA2012/050916",
  "cpc_codes": [
    "H01M10/00",
    "H01M10/42",
    "H01M10/46",
    "G01R31/00",
    "G01R31/36",
    "G01R31/382",
    "H01M16/00",
    "H01M6/00",
    "H01M6/50",
    "H01M6/5033",
    "H02J7/00",
    "H02J7/34",
    "H02J7/342",
    "H01M10/48",
    "H01M6/30",
    "Y02E60/00",
    "Y02E60/10"
  ],
  "cites_count": 20,
  "cited_by_count": 21
}
```

### How to use

1. Click **Try for free** (or **Start**) at the top of this page to open the input form.
2. Fill in **Search terms**. Keywords, one search per line. The form comes with a working example, so you can also run it as it is.
3. Optional: adjust **Companies (assignee)**, **Max patents per search**, **Add abstract, claims and legal status**, **Patent offices**. Every field has a sensible default.
4. Click **Start** and wait for the run to finish.
5. Download the results as Excel, CSV or JSON from the **Output** tab, or get them through the Apify API, a schedule or an integration (Make, Zapier, Google Sheets ...).

### Pricing

Pay per event, no subscription:

- **$1 per 1,000 patents** from a search ($0.001 each).
- **$3 per 1,000 detailed patents** ($0.003 each, instead of the plain price) when details are on, and for patent number lookups. If a patent page cannot be read, the row costs the plain price.
- $0.001 per run start.

Examples: the pre-filled search (20 patents) costs $0.021. 1,000 patents cost about $1. 100 detailed patents cost about $0.30. Searches with no result and error rows are never charged.

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| `searches` | Keywords, one search per line. |
| `assignees` | Optional companies. On their own, they list a company's patents. |
| `maxResultsPerSearch` | Up to 1,000. Default 20. |
| `includeDetails` | Abstract, claims, legal status, expiry, CPC codes, citations. |
| `countries` | Patent office codes, e.g. `US`, `EP`, `WO`. |
| `dateFrom`, `dateTo` | Priority date range. |
| `status` | `any`, `grant` or `application`. |
| `sort` | `relevance`, `newest` or `oldest`. |
| `patentNumbers` | Direct lookups, always with details. |

### Good to know

- Inventor names are left out on purpose: they are private persons. Assignees (owners) are included.
- Google Patents is read politely, one request per second: 1,000 patents from a search take about 10 seconds, 1,000 detailed patents about 20 minutes. If Google slows a very large run down, everything delivered until then stays in the results and the run says so.
- The same patent found by two searches is delivered and charged once.
- Abstracts of patents from China, Japan and other offices come in Google's English translation. Some publications, such as many WO applications, have no abstract on Google Patents.
- Legal status and expiry are Google's estimates, not legal advice.
- Not affiliated with Google.

### More tools from Rowfeed

- [SEC EDGAR API](https://apify.com/rowfeed/sec-edgar-filings-scraper) – company filing history and full-text search across all filers.
- [Companies House Search API](https://apify.com/rowfeed/companies-house-scraper) – UK company status, filing history and registered charges.
- [Image to Text OCR](https://apify.com/rowfeed/image-to-text-ocr) – text from scanned PDFs and images, in 26 languages.
- [PDF to Text](https://apify.com/rowfeed/pdf-page-text-extractor) – text from PDFs that already contain text, page by page.
- [Google Sheets Export](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-sheets-export) – send the results of any run to a Google Sheet.

# Actor input Schema

## `searches` (type: `array`):

Keywords, one search per line. Google Patents syntax works too, e.g. "battery AND (anode OR cathode)".

## `assignees` (type: `array`):

Optional. Only patents owned by these companies. On its own, lists a company's patents.

## `maxResultsPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

Most relevant first, up to 1,000.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Opens each patent page: abstract, number of claims, first claim, legal status, expiry date, CPC codes and citation counts. Priced per detailed patent.

## `countries` (type: `array`):

Two-letter codes, e.g. US, EP, WO, CN, JP, KR, DE. Empty = all offices.

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

Only patents with a priority date on or after this day.

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

Only patents with a priority date before this day.

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

Granted patents or published applications.

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

Order of the results.

## `patentNumbers` (type: `array`):

Look up these patents directly, with full details. Spaces and commas are fine: "US 11,923,482 B2".

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searches": [
    "lidar",
    "mrna vaccine"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Tesla",
    "Samsung Electronics"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerSearch": 20,
  "includeDetails": false,
  "countries": [
    "US",
    "EP",
    "WO"
  ],
  "status": "any",
  "sort": "relevance",
  "patentNumbers": [
    "US11923482B2",
    "EP3000000A1"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "searches": [
        "solid state battery"
    ],
    "maxResultsPerSearch": 20
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("rowfeed/google-patents-api").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 = {
    "searches": ["solid state battery"],
    "maxResultsPerSearch": 20,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("rowfeed/google-patents-api").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 '{
  "searches": [
    "solid state battery"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerSearch": 20
}' |
apify call rowfeed/google-patents-api --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/6YT3Tb2jwNYRTSr3o/builds/CUK8I9p3AAwvCjARL/openapi.json