Early Access Feature
Patent Research Knowledge Source
Run prior art searches, invalidity analysis, and competitive analysis against US patent literature directly in Harvey.
Interested in testing this feature?
Contact your Customer Success Manager for early access.
Overview
The Patent Research Knowledge Source is now available in Harvey. Attach it to your queries to research US patents and related patent materials.
Feature Highlights:
- Search without uploads: Query US patent applications and granted patents from Google Patents and other sources directly in Harvey, instead of uploading individual patents one by one.
- Prior art and invalidity: Ground prior art searches and invalidity assessments in official patent literature.
- Competitive analysis: Compare patent filings across companies and technologies.
- Search file wrapper contents: Find and analyze information in a patent's file wrapper, such as office actions, using the USPTO Open Data Portal filter.
Important: To use the USPTO Open Data Portal filter within the Patent Research knowledge source, you need:
- A workspace admin to enable the USPTO Open Data Portal connector for your workspace.
- A USPTO account at data.uspto.gov and the API key from that account.
Jump to Set Up the USPTO Open Data Portal Filter for instructions.
Key Concepts
Filter | Content Included | Setup Required |
|---|---|---|
Patent Research Sources | Published US applications and patents on Google Patents, Federal Circuit opinions, PTAB trial proceedings and decisions via P-TACTS, patent assignment information, and more. | No setup required. This filter appears automatically within your Patent Research knowledge source. |
USPTO Open Data Portal | Publicly available information in Patent Center, including specifications, drawings, claims, office actions, information disclosure statements, and assignments. | Setup required. An admin must enable the USPTO connector for the workspace, and each user must connect their USPTO account to Harvey. |
How To Query the Patent Research Knowledge Source
- Draft your query.
- Select
Sources. - Choose Patent Research.
- [Optional] Select Set filters to narrow your search to:
- Patent Research Sources
- USPTO Open Data Portal (additional setup required; see Set Up the USPTO Open Data Portal Filter below)
- Both
- Run your query.
- Check the Sources panel to confirm that Harvey cited patent data in its response.
Tip: Specific, well-scoped prompts return the strongest results. For example: "Summarize what US12562295B2 covers, with a focus on the claims."
Example Queries
- My client is developing a new radar technology for measuring the velocity of baseball pitches. Summarize some recently granted patents related to sports radar that could potentially read on this technology so that I can get a sense of the prior art landscape.
- Find patents and applications published before March 15, 2018 disclosing lossless data compression techniques using dictionary-based encoding with adaptive symbol frequencies and variable-length codes.
- Review the April 13, 2023 office action in Acme's U.S. application 12/345,678, the pending claims, and both cited prior-art publications. Recommend an amendment to claim 1 and draft the amended claim and response remarks addressing the rejection and objection. Explain why you chose that amendment and what claim scope we would give up.
- We're defending a wireless-audio patent in an IPR. In Asterwick v. Lumenbridge, IPR2020-01234, explain why the PTAB found original claim 12 unpatentable but granted the motion to amend to add substitute claim 24. Use a short comparison table to show the claim language, prior art, and evidence that changed the outcome.
- UltraStandards has asked our TV company to license US 1,234,567 because our TVs perform HDR tone mapping. Draft a concise response asking them to identify the accused products and substantiate how each limitation of claim 1 is met. Ground the letter in the actual claim language, including the color-space, saturation-processing, and detail-preservation requirements.
How to Set Up the USPTO Open Data Portal Filter
Setup has two parts: first, an admin enables the USPTO connector for the workspace. Then each user connects their own USPTO account to Harvey.
For Admins: Enable the USPTO Connector for Your Workspace
- Navigate to Command Center → Configurations → Connectors.
- Locate USPTO Open Data Portal in the list of connectors.
- Select + Add.
- In the popover, select + Add.
- Complete the authorization flow to enable the connector for your workspace.
After the connector is enabled, users in your workspace can connect their own USPTO accounts to Harvey.
For Users: Connect Your USPTO Account to Harvey
- At the bottom of Harvey’s main menu, select your name/email.
- In the popover, select
Personal Settings. - Select
Connectors. - Select USPTO Open Data Portal from the list of connectors.
- Select Add API key.
- In the popover, paste your API key. You can find your API key in your USPTO account by following the instructions at data.uspto.gov/apis/getting-started.
- Select Connect.
After you connect, the USPTO Open Data Portal filter will be available in the Patent Research knowledge source.
Tips for Success
- Be specific. Name a patent number, a technology, a company, or a date range to focus the search.
- Avoid open-ended, large-scale trend analysis. Requests such as "Find and summarize every US patent that relates to glass phone displays in a table" are not well supported.
- Avoid exhaustive searches. Requests such as "Identify which food packaging patent is the most cited across all US patent history" are not well supported.
- Use the USPTO Open Data Portal filter for file wrapper questions. Office actions, information disclosure statements, and other Patent Center documents are available through this filter.