patent-search-mcp-server

MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for the AI Patent Search Generator — patent dossiers, prosecution history, Office Action AI analysis, citation/family/CPC lookups, plus a legal-intelligence layer (PTAB validity challenges, district-court litigation, company-litigation lookup, legal status, chain of title, term) and a one-shot AI risk profile. All from USPTO public data. Works in Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT-with-MCP, and any other MCP-compatible client.

26 tools available.

• Patent data: dossier, claims, claim_chart, prosecution, prosecution_timeline, oa_analyze, examiner, attorney, entity_status, term, assignments, legal_status, pregrant_pub, query, search, similar, citations, family, cpc, cpc_suggest, balance.

• Legal intelligence (new): challenges (PTAB validity challenges — who attacked the patent and did it survive), litigation (US district-court infringement suits — who sued whom), company_litigation (reverse lookup: all patent suits involving a company).

Prerequisites

1. Install the AI Patent Search Generator Chrome extension and sign in.

2. Generate an API key from the extension's Admin tab.

3. Node.js 18+ (only required for local installs; npx-style configs don't need a local install).

Related MCP server: patents-mcp

Configure in Claude Code

Add to your MCP config (~/.claude/mcp.json or project-scoped .mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "patent-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "patent-search-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PATENT_SEARCH_API_KEY": "psg_live_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Configure in Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "patent-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "patent-search-mcp-server"],
      "env": { "PATENT_SEARCH_API_KEY": "psg_live_..." }
    }
  }
}

Configure in Cursor

Settings → MCP → Add Server. Same JSON shape as Claude Code.

Tools

balance

Return current credit balance + subscription status. Free. No arguments.

dossier

Full patent intelligence: bibliographic, claims, citations, family, classifications, similar documents, examiner stats — all bundled. 3 credits on fresh fetch; free on 24h cache hit.

{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" }

prosecution

USPTO file-wrapper documents (Office Actions, responses, amendments, etc.) for a US patent. Free.

{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" }  OR  { "applicationNumber": "15912345" }

oa_analyze

AI analysis of a USPTO Office Action — rejection grounds, cited prior art, suggested response arguments. First 5 analyses per application are free; subsequent analyses cost 1 credit each.

Two forms:

• Auto-pick most recent OA: { "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" }

• Explicit doc: { "applicationNumber": "15912345", "documentId": "..." }

examiner

Examiner name, art unit, total applications, allowance rate, average pendency. Free.

{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" }

query

Single optimized Boolean query string for manual paste into Google Patents. Does NOT execute. 1 credit.

{ "description": "foldable display with ultrasonic fingerprint sensor" }

search

Executes a multi-query patent search against Google Patents server-side and returns ranked, deduplicated hits. 1 credit.

{
  "description": "foldable display with ultrasonic fingerprint sensor",
  "strategy": "telescoping",
  "limit": 20
}

Strategies: telescoping (3 queries, broad/moderate/narrow), onion-ring (layered), faceted (concept pairs).

similar

Google Patents' similar-documents ranking for a given patent. Free.

{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2", "limit": 20 }

citations

Backward + forward citations for a patent. Each citation flags whether it was examiner-cited. Free.

{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2", "direction": "both" }

direction: backward | forward | both (default).

family

Patent family — continuations, divisionals, foreign counterparts. Free.

{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" }

cpc

CPC classification code lookup. Free. v1.0 covers all sections + ~80 common subclasses; subgroup descriptions land in v1.2.

{ "code": "H01M10/0525" }

claims (new in v0.2.0)

Just the claims of a patent — much cheaper than dossier when you only need claim text. Free when the dossier is cached; 1 credit cold.

{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" }

claim_chart (new in v0.2.0)

Per-claim element chart: decomposes each independent claim into discrete elements and maps each to examiner-cited prior art from cached Office Action analyses. Free when dossier is cached; 3 credits cold. Call oa_analyze first if you want fresh OA data included.

{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2", "oaDocumentIds": ["optional-filter"] }

cpc_suggest (new in v0.2.0)

Description → suggested CPC codes via AI. Returns 3–5 candidates ranked by confidence with reasoning. 1 credit; cached by description hash for 30 days. Curated dataset (~80 subclasses) — niche chemistry/biotech may miss.

{ "description": "lithium-ion battery thermal management with phase change materials" }

Environment variables

Local development

git clone https://github.com/smythmyke/patent-search-mcp-server.git
cd patent-search-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

# Point your MCP client config at the local build:
{
  "command": "node",
  "args": ["/absolute/path/to/patent-search-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
  "env": { "PATENT_SEARCH_API_KEY": "psg_test_..." }
}

Security

• Never commit PATENT_SEARCH_API_KEY to source control.

• Revoke a leaked key from the extension's Admin tab.

• Keys are SHA-256 hashed on the server; the raw key is shown only once at creation.

Errors

• Invalid or missing PATENT_SEARCH_API_KEY — mint or rotate the key.

• Out of credits — purchase a credit pack from the extension's Tools tab.

• Rate limit exceeded — wait briefly and retry.

License

MIT