Agent skill

ip_research

IP data research tools for patents, trademarks, and applications. Use when: - Looking up patents by number (US, EP, WO, JP, etc.) - Searching patent databases by keyword, assignee, inventor, or classification - Getting patent family, citation, or legal status information - Checking USPTO application status, file wrapper, or PTAB proceedings - Downloading bulk USPTO data products - Finding patent assignments or ownership history - Fetching USPTO publication full-text data

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Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/parkerhancock/ip_tools/tree/main/skills/ip_research

SKILL.md

IP Research

Async Python clients for patent data. All clients use async with context managers.

Routing

Task Client Reference
Patent lookup/search GooglePatentsClient google_patents.md
USPTO application status ApplicationsClient uspto_odp.md
USPTO PTAB (IPR/PGR) PtabTrialsClient uspto_odp.md
USPTO bulk data BulkDataClient uspto_odp.md
USPTO assignments UsptoAssignmentsClient uspto_assignments.md
USPTO publications UsptoPublicationsClient uspto_publications.md
EPO bibliographic/family EpoOpsClient epo_ops.md
JPO application status JpoClient jpo.md

Quick Examples

Lookup patent by number

python
from ip_tools.google_patents import GooglePatentsClient

async with GooglePatentsClient() as client:
    patent = await client.get_patent_data("US10123456B2")

Search patents

python
from ip_tools.google_patents import GooglePatentsClient

async with GooglePatentsClient() as client:
    results = await client.search_patents(
        keywords="machine learning",
        assignee="Google",
        limit=25
    )

Check application status

python
from ip_tools.uspto_odp import ApplicationsClient

async with ApplicationsClient() as client:  # Requires USPTO_ODP_API_KEY
    app = await client.get("16123456")
    docs = await client.get_documents("16123456")

Find PTAB proceedings

python
from ip_tools.uspto_odp import PtabTrialsClient

async with PtabTrialsClient() as client:
    results = await client.search_proceedings(query="patent:US10123456")

Error Handling

All clients raise typed exceptions from ip_tools.core.exceptions. Error messages are concise and include a path to the log file for full tracebacks. Stacktraces never pollute your context window.

python
from ip_tools.core.exceptions import IpToolsError, NotFoundError, RateLimitError

try:
    async with GooglePatentsClient() as client:
        patent = await client.get_patent_data("US99999999")
except NotFoundError as e:
    print(e)  # "Patent US99999999 not found ... (details: ~/.cache/ip_tools/ip_tools.log)"
except RateLimitError:
    print("Rate limited — wait and retry")
except IpToolsError as e:
    print(e)  # Concise message + log path for debugging

Exception hierarchy:

Exception When
NotFoundError Patent/resource not found (404)
RateLimitError Rate limit exceeded (429)
AuthenticationError Bad or missing API credentials (401/403)
ServerError Remote API error (5xx)
ParseError Failed to parse response data
ConfigurationError Missing API key or invalid config
ValidationError Invalid input (bad patent number format, etc.)
ApiError Other HTTP errors (base for all API errors)
IpToolsError Base for all ip_tools errors

Log file: ~/.cache/ip_tools/ip_tools.log — contains full tracebacks, request/response details, and debug information. Read this file when error messages alone aren't sufficient to diagnose an issue.

Environment Variables

Variable Required For
USPTO_ODP_API_KEY All ODP clients (Applications, PTAB, BulkData, Petitions)
EPO_OPS_API_KEY EPO OPS client
EPO_OPS_API_SECRET EPO OPS client
JPO_API_USERNAME JPO client
JPO_API_PASSWORD JPO client

Cache Management

All clients cache to ~/.cache/ip_tools/. See cache.md for TTL, invalidation, and statistics APIs.

Issue Reporting

Source: parkerhancock/ip_tools

Report bugs with: version, minimal reproduction code, and API response if applicable.

References

  • google_patents.md - Full-text search, patent documents, citations
  • uspto_odp.md - Applications, PTAB, bulk data, petitions
  • uspto_assignments.md - Assignment/ownership lookup
  • uspto_publications.md - Full-text patent and application publications
  • epo_ops.md - EPO bibliographic, family, legal status
  • jpo.md - Japan Patent Office APIs
  • cache.md - Cache management APIs

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