# Global Patent Search Aggregator (`thriftykiwi/patent-search-aggregator`) Actor

Search two free patent sources at once: Google Patents and the official EPO Publication Server feed of new European patent applications. Returns normalised rows with title, abstract snippet, inventors, assignee, dates and a document link. No API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/thriftykiwi/patent-search-aggregator.md
- **Developed by:** [Thrifty Kiwi](https://apify.com/thriftykiwi) (community)
- **Categories:** Other, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 result items

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

**Global Patent Search Aggregator** pulls structured data from Google Patents and EPO Publication Server and returns it as a clean dataset you can export as JSON, CSV or Excel. It runs one keyword across Google Patents and the official EPO publication register and merges the hits into one normalised patent dataset with title, abstract snippet, inventors, assignee, priority and filing dates plus a link to the full document - useful for prior art and competitor monitoring without opening three search portals.

No API key, no login. Click **Start** and it works with the prefilled input.

### What does Global Patent Search Aggregator do?

It queries [Google Patents and EPO Publication Server](https://patents.google.com) and returns one row per record, with only the fields that matter. Runs on the Apify platform, so you get an API endpoint, scheduling, monitoring and integrations (Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, webhooks) without maintaining any infrastructure.

### Why use it?

- **Google Patents and EPO Publication Server data without the plumbing**: no proxy setup, no pagination code, no scraping maintenance.
- **Schedule it** to monitor changes daily or weekly and trigger alerts on new records.
- **Feed it straight into** a spreadsheet, database, or an AI agent via the Apify API or MCP server.
- Runs in seconds and returns a typed dataset that is ready for analysis.

### How to use it

1. Click **Try for free** / **Start**.
2. Leave the default input to see a sample run, or type your own values (see Input below).
3. Press **Start** and wait a few seconds.
4. Open the **Output** tab and download as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `query` | string | `"device"` | Keyword searched across patent titles and abstracts. |
| `maxResults` | integer | `20` | Maximum number of patent rows to return. |

Example input:

```json
{
  "query": "device",
  "maxResults": 5
}
```

### Output

One item per record. Sample:

```json
{
  "source": "Google Patents",
  "publication_number": "US12045770B2",
  "title": "Public transport infrastructure facilitated drone delivery",
  "abstract_snippet": "communicating, from the machine to the drone the drone delivery route",
  "inventors": "Jonathan Gabbai",
  "assignee": "Ebay Inc."
}
```

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

### Data fields

| Field | Type | Meaning |
|-------|------|---------|
| `source` | string | Source |
| `publication_number` | string | Publication Number |
| `title` | string | Title |
| `abstract_snippet` | string | Abstract Snippet |
| `inventors` | string | Inventors |
| `assignee` | string | Assignee / Applicant |
| `filing_date` | string | Filing Date |
| `publication_date` | string | Publication Date |
| `priority_date` | string | Priority Date |
| `country` | string | Country |
| `cpc_classes` | string | CPC / IPC Classes |
| `patent_url` | string | Patent Document |
| `match_type` | string | Match Type |

### How much does it cost to run?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing: you pay per result item pushed to the dataset, and nothing for an empty run. Each run is a few seconds of compute, so typical costs are fractions of a cent per run, and the Apify free tier covers plenty of testing.

### Tips and advanced options

- Raise `maxResults` for a bigger pull; the Actor pages through the source for you.
- Schedule it (e.g. every morning) and combine with a webhook to get only the new records.
- Add the Actor to an AI agent through the Apify MCP server for natural-language queries.

### FAQ, disclaimers and support

- **Is this legal?** It uses publicly available data from Google Patents and EPO Publication Server. You are responsible for how you use the data and for complying with the source's terms.
- **It returned nothing?** Try a technology keyword such as "battery", "device" or "solar panel".
- **Something broken?** Open an issue on the Actor's **Issues** tab. Data sources change and get fixed quickly.
- Need a custom variant (extra fields, a different source, a scheduled report)? Get in touch through the Issues tab.

# Actor input Schema

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

Keyword searched across patent titles and abstracts.

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

Maximum number of patent rows to return.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "device",
  "maxResults": 20
}
```

# 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 = {
    "query": "device",
    "maxResults": 20
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("thriftykiwi/patent-search-aggregator").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 = {
    "query": "device",
    "maxResults": 20,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("thriftykiwi/patent-search-aggregator").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 '{
  "query": "device",
  "maxResults": 20
}' |
apify call thriftykiwi/patent-search-aggregator --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,thriftykiwi/patent-search-aggregator"
        }
    }
}
```

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/ezCu25qDhfPuNg5GU/builds/6nJeGvkIUg38ya35X/openapi.json