Patent Examination Research Dataset (PatEx)

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).

Additional Resources

A good primer for the art of patent examination is the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure.