What you can do with PatentLens

Patents hold the clearest map of who's building what — but the official databases are slow, cryptic, and built for examiners, not for you. PatentLens turns a plain-English question into an analyst-grade report in about 90 seconds, searched across 15M+ US patents. No account, no subscription — the invention and patent reports are free; the company report is $29.95.

Who uses PatentLens

• Inventors & solo founders — before you spend on a provisional or an attorney, see whether the space is already crowded.
• Early-stage founders & product managers — scope a new product or pitch and understand the IP landscape before you build or raise.
• R&D engineers & technical leads — map who's patenting near your approach and where the white space is.

1. Map the landscape around an invention

Describe an idea in your own words — a sentence or a paragraph — and we find the 50 most relevant US patents, rank them by how closely they actually relate, and write a clear narrative of the landscape: who the major players are, where the field is crowded, and where the white space might be. Perfect when you're checking whether an idea is novel, scoping a new product, or sizing up a space before you invest.

Run a free landscape report   Try a free sample ↗

2. Understand any single patent

Have a patent or application number? We pull the filing and explain it in plain English — what it actually covers, whether it's still alive, who's behind it, its patent family and citations — plus the competitive landscape of who else is patenting nearby. Great for sizing up a competitor's patent, reviewing your own, or making sense of one you were just handed.

Look up a patent — free   Try a free sample ↗

3. Profile a company's whole patent portfolio

Enter a company name and we resolve every entity it files under — old names, subsidiaries, and corporate-form variants — then build its full patent picture: a portfolio archetype (how formidable it is now × where its filing is heading), filing momentum over time, the technology areas it concentrates in, and its closest competitors. Because companies rarely file under one tidy name, you confirm the resolved entity set before paying, so the totals are exactly what you chose to include.

What it covers: US patents and applications, the resolved set of assignee names (shown on the report), granted vs. pending counts, and an in-force estimate. Honesty notes built in: the most recent ~2–3 filing years are undercounted by publication lag (so momentum is computed on lag-safe years), "pending" means an application not yet granted (not "alive vs. dead"), and "in force" is an estimate. It's a research read on the patent portfolio — not legal or investment advice.

Profile a company — $29.95   Browse free samples ↗

What's in the invention & patent reports

• 50 patents ranked by AI relevance — not a keyword dump; reranked so the closest matches come first.
• A written landscape narrative — the story of the field in clear prose, grounded in the data.
• Charts — top assignees and filing activity over time, so you see who's active and whether the space is heating up.
• Technology areas & white space — where the patents cluster, and adjacent areas worth exploring.
• Citations & patent family (patent reports) — who cites it, what it cites, and its filings worldwide.
• A downloadable PDF and a shareable link — send it to a colleague or an attorney.

What's in the company report

• Portfolio archetype — a plain-language read of how formidable the portfolio is now and where its filing is heading (e.g. "Dominant · slowing", "Emerging · fast-rising").
• Snapshot — total US patents, granted vs. pending, an in-force estimate, and the filing-year span.
• Filing momentum — activity over time, with the most recent (publication-lagged) years handled honestly.
• Technology areas & closest competitors — where the portfolio concentrates, and the top other assignees in those areas.
• A strategic read — the same data read three ways (for a competitor, an acquirer, a licensee), plus the resolved entity disclosure and a downloadable PDF / shareable link.

Built on USPTO patent data (via Google's public patents dataset), searched with semantic vector search, with the written analysis generated by Claude (Anthropic). Runs on Google Cloud.

How it works

1. Tell us what you're looking into — describe an invention, paste a patent number, or enter a company name.
2. We search 15M+ US patents — ranking what's most relevant with AI for invention/patent reports, or (for a company) resolving every entity it files under and aggregating its whole portfolio.
3. Your report is ready in about 90 seconds. We email you a permanent link the moment it's done — so you can close the tab and come back to it. It's also a downloadable PDF you can share. (Free samples open right away in your browser.)

Coverage: 15M+ US patents and applications, ~2000–2026, US only (international coming). Public data lags ~2–3 years behind the newest filings.

Good to know

• Anonymous by design. No sign-in. We don't sell, share, or train AI on what you search; your email is used only to send your report link. Reports auto-delete after 90 days — or you can delete yours instantly. Privacy.
• Invention and patent reports are free. The company report is $29.95, one-time — no subscription. Not happy? See our refund policy.
• Research, not legal advice. Our reports are a fast, AI-generated starting point — consult a registered patent attorney before any filing decision. Terms.

Common questions

Is this a freedom-to-operate or legal opinion?

No. Every report is an AI-generated research summary, not legal advice. It's built to be the fast first step before you spend on an attorney — it shows you whether a space is crowded and where the closest prior art sits, so your conversation with a registered patent attorney starts from data instead of zero.

What do I get that Google Patents doesn't?

Google Patents gives you a raw keyword search — you still read every result yourself and decide what's relevant. PatentLens does the synthesis: it ranks the 50 closest patents by meaning (not keywords), writes the landscape for you, names the major players, and flags where a field is crowded versus open — or, for a company, profiles its whole portfolio and strategic position. The invention and patent reports are free; the company report ($29.95) adds the full competitive read. You get the analysis, not just the data — in about 90 seconds.

Which patents does it cover?

15M+ US patents and applications, roughly 2000–2026, deduplicated by patent family. US only for now (international is on the roadmap). Note that public patent data lags about 2–3 years behind the newest filings, so the most recent activity in any field won't be fully visible yet — true of every patent database, not just ours.

How accurate is the ranking?

We use semantic vector search across the corpus, then an AI rerank for relevance to your specific description. It reliably surfaces the closest matches, but no automated search is exhaustive — treat an apparent gap as "worth a targeted follow-up search," not a guarantee that a space is clear.

Do I have to wait for the report?

No. Free samples open right away in your browser. For a paid report, we generate it in the background — about 90 seconds — and email you a permanent link the moment it's ready, so you can close the tab and come back to it. It's also a downloadable PDF.

What exactly do I get?

For an invention description: the 50 most-relevant US patents ranked by relevance, a written landscape narrative, top-assignee and filing-year charts, a downloadable PDF, and a shareable link. For a patent/application number: a plain-English breakdown of what it covers, its status, assignee, inventors, citations and family, plus the competitive landscape around it. For a company: its whole US portfolio — a portfolio archetype, filing momentum, technology areas, closest competitors, and a strategic read (for a competitor, an acquirer, a licensee) over the entity set you confirm.

Is my invention confidential?

Yes — by design. PatentLens is anonymous and needs no account. We use your description only to generate your report. We never sell or share it, and we never use it to train AI models. Your report and the description behind it auto-delete after 90 days, and you can delete them instantly at any time. One honest caveat: a patent search is research, not a legal protection. It does not create a priority date or replace a confidentiality agreement. If protecting an early filing date matters — especially before any public disclosure — talk to a registered patent attorney about filing.

Do I need an account?

No. PatentLens is anonymous by design — no sign-in or password. We don't sell, share, or train AI on what you search. We use your email only to send your report link. Reports auto-delete after 90 days, or you can delete yours instantly.

Can I share the report?

Yes. Every report has a downloadable PDF and a shareable link — send it to a cofounder, an investor, or your patent attorney.

What if the results aren't useful?

See the refund policy (linked in the footer). Even a sparse result set is signal — a near-empty landscape can mean you're early in an open space.

What's the difference between the three report types?

"Describe an invention" maps the landscape around an idea you describe in plain English. "By patent / application #" does a deep dive on a specific patent you already have a number for. "By company" profiles a company's entire US patent portfolio — its archetype, momentum, technology areas, and closest competitors — after you confirm which entities to include. The invention and patent reports are free; the company report is $29.95.

Questions? Email us — a real person reads every message.