Dataset

Patent grants, applications & citations

Free & Open Data API TSV 1 source

Disambiguated US patent data, inventors, assignees, locations, claims and citation networks, from PatentsView and Patent Examination Research, reaching back to 1976 and including pre-grant publications, all queryable for free.

Dataset card

USPTO PatentsView provides public-domain data on U.S. patent grants, applications, assignees, and citations. It serves as a broad open resource for tracking innovation activity across organizations and inventors.

What this dataset contains

The dataset covers U.S. patent grants and applications sourced from the USPTO, along with citation linkages between patents. It is intended to surface innovation, R&D, and assignee-level activity without any licensing restriction. No specific row counts, time range, or coverage scope are documented in the provided facts.

Structure and fields

The provider does not list a public schema or column names in the supplied description, so the exact fields are not confirmed. Tags reference patents, innovation, R&D, assignees, and citations, suggesting entity-level identifiers for patents and assignees are likely present, but analysts should verify the full schema from the official PatentsView documentation before use.

How analysts use it

Patent filings and citation patterns are commonly used to gauge corporate R&D intensity, identify assignees building defensible technology portfolios, and benchmark competitors in specific technology areas. Plausible investment-fund applications include long/short signal generation on innovation momentum, M&A target screening, and tracking ESG- or thematic-fund exposures to emerging technology domains, though the underlying facts do not demonstrate these uses directly.

Documentation & references 2
  1. USPTO PatentsView/Patent grants, applications & citations: listing on the provider website
  2. USPTO PatentsView: official website

Further reading

All guides
  • How funds evaluate alternative data vendorsEvaluating alternative-data providers: research fit, provenance, historical timing, permitted use and the evidence needed for an informed purchasing decision.
  • Open vs commercial alternative dataWhat free and open datasets can and cannot do: where public data rivals paid panels, where it cannot compete, and how open sources fit a professional research workflow.
  • Alternative data for hedge fundsA practical guide to alternative data for hedge funds: team design, budget sequencing, infrastructure, vendor portfolio construction and the metrics that show whether the program creates investment value.
  • Free alternative data sourcesThe practical list of free alternative-data sources for investors: public filings, official statistics, satellite and earth observation, on-chain data, web archives and open registries, what each covers, what it costs in engineering effort, and where free data falls short.

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