API ReferenceAlt-Data
Patents
/api/v3/intel/patents/{ticker}- Plan
- Pro and up
- Price
- 3 credits per call
- MCP tool
intel_patents
Issued USPTO patents tagged to one ticker — date, title, IPC class, claim count, and abstract for each (default 25) — from a warehouse copy loaded once (as_of) for a watchlist of 71 tickers; it holds a recent window per ticker, so data_from and coverage_note say where this ticker's copy begins. Other tickers use the live feed. Call this when the user asks what a company is patenting or wants an innovation-velocity read on its R&D pipeline. A 503 means the data could not be retrieved, not that the company holds no patents; an unknown symbol is a 404 unknown_ticker.
Parameters
Path
tickerstringRequiredQuery
limitintegerOptional251 to 200Response
A 200 is a JSON envelope: ok: true and this endpoint's own fields (see Alt-Data). It carries X-Request-ID, the credit headers (X-Credits-Cost, X-Credits-Remaining, X-Credits-Receipt, X-Credits-Settlement) and the rate-limit headers.
A 200 is billed even when it holds no data (an empty list, null, found: false), so check those fields. Pricing & credits explains the credit headers.
Errors
No error is billed. The body is { "ok": false, "error", "detail", "request_; read the code from error.
| Error | Meaning |
|---|---|
400 invalid_ticker | The request is malformed, for example a ticker that is not a symbol: invalid_ticker, refused before any credit is reserved, with param naming the parameter. Not billed. |
401 unauthorized | Missing or invalid API key. |
402 plan_required | Your plan does not include this tool, you are out of credits, or your workspace's spend cap paused its keys. plan_required names the plan that unlocks the tool; usage_exceeded means the credit balance is spent; spend_cap_reached means the key is paused until the cap resets or is raised: detail names the cap and the reset, cap_usd and resets_at (ISO 8601) carry them, and doc_url links pricing and credits. Not billed. |
403 scope_denied | This API key is limited to some products and this tool is not one of them. product names the tool's product and scopes the key's products. An upgrade does not change it: use a key whose scopes include the product, or change this key's scopes. Not billed. |
404 unknown_ticker | No data source lists this ticker, active or delisted: the market-data listing and the security master both say it does not exist. param names the parameter. Not billed. Best-effort: it is answered only when the route itself found nothing, and after 20 lookups of new symbols per API key per minute the route's own answer stands. |
422 validation | A parameter is missing, out of range or the wrong type; param names it. Not billed. |
429 rate_limited | Your plan's rate limit is spent for this window. Retry after Retry-After seconds. Not billed. |
503 paid_ | The data could not be served completely right now; retry later. Not billed. |
504 request_timeout | The request ran past the server's time budget; retry. Not billed. |
This table lists what the spec declares for this route. Error responses lists every code FIRM sends, with when to retry.
Guides
Read the Alt-Data guide for this endpoint's fields and examples.