Microproduct data guideintermediate

USPTO Open Data Portal

U.S. patent bibliographic records for building assignee, classification, and filing-volume research tools.

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At a glance

Difficulty
Intermediate — some data preparation helps
Size
Large · 0.01–50 GB
Formats
JSON, XML, ZIP, CSV
Access
API or Download
API key
Required
Provider
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Updates
Weekly
Data terms
USPTO website terms of use

From source to product signal

Test a product idea in four steps

USPTO Open Data Portal replaced PatentsView for bibliographic search and bulk files. Start with a 25-record File Wrapper search using a free ODP API key. Weekly XML dumps are a separate bulk path, coverage is U.S. applications, and this is not the retired PatentsView API.

1

Check the setup

  • Python 3.10 or newer
  • A notebook environment such as Jupyter or Google Colab
  • A USPTO.gov account with an ODP API key saved in USPTO_API_KEY
2

Access the data

  1. 1.Create a USPTO.gov account, complete the Open Data Portal profile fields, and save USPTO_API_KEY.
  2. 2.Open the Patent File Wrapper search endpoint documentation.
  3. 3.Request 25 utility applications and keep application number, title, and filing date.
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3

Run the Python example

Install the packages, then run the notebook cell.

python -m pip install pandas requests

import os
import pandas as pd
import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.uspto.gov/api/v1/patent/applications/search",
    headers={"X-API-KEY": os.environ["USPTO_API_KEY"]},
    json={
        "q": "applicationMetaData.applicationTypeLabelName:Utility",
        "pagination": {"offset": 0, "limit": 25},
    },
    timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
payload = response.json()
applications = pd.json_normalize(
    payload.get("patentFileWrapperDataBag", []),
)
applications["retrieved_at_utc"] = pd.Timestamp.now(tz="UTC")
print(applications.head())
4

Test a useful signal

List recent utility patent applications

Test whether File Wrapper search can power a bounded patent-title inbox.

  1. 01Keep application number, invention title, and filing date from the first page.
  2. 02Count records missing a first applicant name.
  3. 03Explain that ODP search is not PatentsView, a 25-record page is not a complete assignee census, and weekly XML dumps are a separate bulk download.

Dataset details

United States Patent and Trademark Office is a government source. Last verified 2026-08-18. Temporal coverage: daily File Wrapper bibliographic records and weekly bulk files.

Theme

Research & Reference

Domains

ResearchIntellectual PropertyInnovation

Data types

DocumentsTabularRegistry Data

Tasks

Patent ResearchAssignee AnalysisClassification Research

Geography

United States

Formats

JSONXMLZIPCSV

Provider

United States Patent and Trademark Office

Data terms

USPTO website terms of use