PatentsView was launched in 2017 to help people access, understand, and use patent data in their research. The award-winning data visualizations shed light on trends and can show how inventors and innovation have changed since 1976, and the bulk data downloads, API tool, and community collaborative can let you dig deeper into patents data.

People have recently used PatentsView data to explore the gender of inventors and how that balance has changed over time. They have looked at patent data to better understand innovation in Latin America, and they have mapped skill-relatedness networks to get a better idea about how the economy is evolving.

Using PatentsView data

Do you have a question about patents, innovation, inventors, or technology? PatentsView gives you several options to access and analyze its data.

1. Patent Visualizations: A collection of charts and graphs to  explore patent data in an accessible format. The visualization tools allow the user to search for keywords, filter by location, make comparisons by attribute, and view a network of patents that shows a big picture.

2. Community Collaborative: A moderated community that offers collaborative spaces, such as a discussion forum and the Data in Action Spotlight. The Data   in Action Spotlight is a blog featuring information about research done with PatentsView data and tools, updates to the PatentsView site, relevant events, and more.

3. API Tool: The API tool allows software developers and researchers to work with our data within their local environment. Documentation is available on the ‘Why Explore Patent Data?’ page for the API tool as well as its query language and a list of specialized endpoints to search and filter the data. For a detailed example in Python, view our PatentsView Search API Tutorial on GitHub. We recently updated it with more robust descriptions and documentation.

4. Data Query Builder: A user-friendly query builder interface to allow users to create their own datasets based on specific search criteria. The query builder is distinct from the API Tool. The final dataset from any customized query is made available by providing a link sent to the user's email address. NOTE: At the time of posting, The Query Builder tool is currently down and unable to send requested data to your email address. Until it is back online, please refer to our service desk to inquire about customized data requests.

5. Bulk Data Download: A page that provides the data used to create the website and its visualizations. It is split into various tables that contain raw, disambiguated, or processed data. The page also provides example Python and R scripts meant to assist with reading the data after they have downloaded.

Updates and Improvements

The PatentsView team is constantly adding new patent data, improving functionality, and fixing bugs and errors. For instance, PatentsView recently released data through September 30, 2023, and is working on a new data release in March.

Earlier this year, the team implemented a new gender attribution algorithm, and updated the location standardization process. Visit the release notes page for a full list of updates and improvements over time.

We Want to Hear from You

Many of these improvements were spurred by user suggestions and questions. Your exploration of the data and reporting of discrepancies and errors helps support our team to return the highest quality data to the public.

Please contact our service desk with any data questions and suggestions you may have, including Data in Action Spotlight post ideas. Let us know if you have recently published a paper or given a presentation based on PatentsView data or if you have an upcoming event that uses PatentsView in some way.

To receive regular updates on what the PatentsView team is working on, subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter.