The original release of the Patent Examination Research Dataset (PatEx) contained detailed information on 9.2 million publicly viewable patent applications filed with the USPTO through December 2014. The first three updates to the dataset are available as well, the most recent posted in December 2018 (and referred to as the 2017 release). This release covered all activity through 2017, but also includes activity through mid July of 2018.
The latest version of PatEx (referred to below as the 2021 release) contains detailed information on more than 12.5 million publicly-viewable provisional and non-provisional patent applications to the USPTO and over 1 million Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications. It is based on data that OCE downloaded from the Patent Examination Data System (PEDS) in June, 2022. The PEDS data are sourced from Public PAIR. The first time that OCE used PEDS as the basis of PatEx was for the 2019 release. We took the PEDS data and organized it into the familiar PatEx data files, which are based on the organization of the legacy Public PAIR portal. The data files include information on each application’s characteristics, prosecution history, continuation history, claims of foreign priority, patent term adjustment history, publication history, and correspondence address information. However, there are some minor differences between the post-2019 PatEx releases and those prior to 2019. Because of this, we provided new technical documentation for the 2019 release, which can be found here.
For questions, please email EconomicsData@uspto.gov.
Documentation
Original Documentation (For 2014 through 2017 Releases)
A document describing these data sets is available and can be cited as: Graham, Stuart J.H. and Marco, Alan C. and Miller, Richard, The USPTO Patent Examination Research Dataset: A Window on the Process of Patent Examination (November 30, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2702637.
Understanding how patent examination records become public is crucial to the proper analysis of the PatEx data. Thus, the document focuses primarily on the coverage of the underlying Public PAIR data and how it has evolved over time. It also includes several appendices that provide more detailed descriptions of the data elements in each of the files. These appendices can be accessed separately by clicking on the following links.
Appendix A: Description of the Application Data Tab Release
Appendix B: Description of the Transaction History Tab Release
Appendix C: Description of the Continuity Data Tab Release
Appendix D: Description of the Foreign Priority Tab Release
Appendix E: Description of the Patent Term Adjustment Tab Release
Appendix F: Description of the Address and Attorney/Agent Tab Release
Notes Regarding 2015 PatEx Data Files
New Technical Documentation (For 2019 or Later Release)
However, if you are using the 2019 or later release, you should disregard the appendices above and refer to the new technical documentation. Please refer to the following technical documentation for the 2019 release: Miller, Richard D. Technical Documentation for the 2019 Patent Examination Research Dataset (PatEx) Release. USPTO Economic Working Paper No. 2020-4. Available here: https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/PatEx-2019-Technical-Doc.pdf.
Additional resource for the PatEx data is the paper, "USPTO Patent Prosecution and Examiner Performance Appraisal", and can be cited as: Marco, Alan C. and Toole, Andrew A. and Miller, Richard and Frumkin, Jesse, USPTO Patent Prosecution and Examiner Performance Appraisal (June 1, 2017). USPTO Economic Working Paper No. 2017-08. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2995674 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2995674
Data Files
Each of the files below can be downloaded in either Stata-14 (DTA) or CSV format.
Download a full set of data files (2014): [.dta format (5.42 GB)] [.csv format (4.33 GB)]
Download a full set of data files (2015): [.dta format (5.56 GB)] [.csv format (4.99 GB)]
Download a full set of data files (2016): [.dta format (4.98 GB)] [.csv format (4.36 GB)]
Download a full set of data files (2017): [.dta format (5.37 GB)][.csv format (4.8 GB)]
Download a full set of data files (2019): [.dta format (9.4 GB)] [.csv format (7.87 GB)]
Download a full set of data files (2020): [.dta format (11.8 GB)] [.csv format (8.63 GB)]
Download a full set of data files (2021): [.dta format (12.5 GB)] [.csv format (9.83 GB)]
Download individual data files (the direct download pages are here: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021).
| File Name | 2014 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| application_data | DTA 1.53 GB |
CSV 585 MB |
DTA 1.03 GB |
CSV 774 MB |
DTA 938 MB |
CSV 828 MB |
DTA 1.03 GB |
CSV 853 MB |
| all_inventors | DTA 229 MB |
CSV 225 MB |
DTA 427 MB |
CSV 417 MB |
DTA 438 MB |
CSV 439 MB |
DTA 459 MB |
CSV 464 MB |
| transactions | DTA 2.55 GB |
CSV 2.45 GB |
DTA 2.56 GB |
CSV 1.65 GB |
DTA 2.8 GB |
CSV 1.8 GB |
DTA 1.97 GB |
CSV 1.93 GB |
| event_codes | DTA 75 KB |
CSV 21.2 KB |
DTA 40.7 KB |
CSV 23.3 KB |
DTA 86.3 KB |
CSV 24.5 KB |
DTA 88.4 KB |
CSV 24.6 KB |
| status_codes | DTA 8.56 KB |
CSV 3.53 KB |
No data |
No data |
No data |
No data |
No data |
No data |
| continuity_parents | DTA 49.9 MB |
CSV 48.7 MB |
DTA 102 MB |
CSV 80.2 MB |
DTA 125 MB |
CSV 86.2 MB |
DTA 124 MB |
CSV 92.8 MB |
| continuity_children | DTA 40.9 MB |
CSV 40.9 MB |
DTA 63.6 MB |
CSV 61.3 MB |
DTA 104 MB |
CSV 69.1 MB |
DTA 93.6 MB |
CSV 74.2 MB |
| foreign_priority | DTA 36.5 MB |
CSV 35.2 MB |
DTA 77 MB |
CSV 47 MB |
DTA 82.1 MB |
CSV 49.1 MB |
DTA 78.8 MB |
CSV 51.8 MB |
| pat_term_adj | DTA 823 MB |
CSV 747 MB |
DTA 1.28 GB |
CSV 1.53 GB |
DTA 1.41 GB |
CSV 1.67 GB |
DTA 1.51 GB |
CSV 1.83 GB |
| pta_summary | DTA 19.6 MB |
CSV 16.2 MB |
DTA 49.3 MB |
CSV 33.1 MB |
DTA 55.6 MB |
CSV 35.3 MB |
DTA 51.8 MB |
CSV 37.9 MB |
| pte_summary | No data |
No data |
DTA 531 KB |
CSV 345 KB |
DTA 531 KB |
CSV 345 KB |
DTA 515 KB |
CSV 345 KB |
| correspondence_address | DTA 165 MB |
CSV 243 MB |
DTA 350 MB |
CSV 362 MB |
DTA 369 MB |
CSV 378 MB |
DTA 393 MB |
CSV 389 MB |
| attorney_agent | No data |
No data |
DTA 3.49 GB |
CSV 2.96 GB |
DTA 5.51 GB |
CSV 3.32 GB |
DTA 6.79 GB |
CSV 4.15 GB |
Additional Resources
A good primer for the art of patent examination is the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure.