Add Patent Connector to ip-legal

[wolfgang-stark]

Summary

Adds Patent Connector to ip-legal: authoritative patent, trademark and design data from first-party office APIs only (USPTO ODP, EPO OPS, DPMA, EUIPO, USPTO TSDR, IP Australia, Japan/JPO, Taiwan/TIPO), plus a built-in reference layer (classifications and multi-office examination guidelines) with semantic search. It complements Solve Intelligence by working from the underlying office records rather than an aggregator, and adds reference and guidance lookup no other ip-legal connector provides.

First-party by principle: every source is an official office API. Nothing is scraped or reverse-engineered (no Google Patents), so every result traces to a primary source the plugin can cite.

What's included

• ip-legal/.mcp.json: Patent Connector over https://mcp.patent.dev/mcp (Streamable HTTP; OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration + PKCE)
• ip-legal/README.md: integrations list
• ip-legal/CLAUDE.md: Available-integrations row
• ip-legal/.claude-plugin/plugin.json: 1.0.2 → 1.0.3 (patch bump, behavior addition per CONTRIBUTING)
• CONNECTORS.md: added to Current connectors; removed two Wanted-connector items this fulfills (below)

What it gives Claude

Source	Data
USPTO ODP	search, bibliography, claims, full text, legal status, continuity, term, prosecution timeline, assignments, office actions, PTAB, portfolio by customer number, file-wrapper documents and PDFs
EPO OPS	worldwide search, bibliographic data, families, legal status, classifications, full text, prior-art citations, drawings
DPMA	German patent search and retrieval
EUIPO	EU trademark search and status, registered Community designs
USPTO TSDR	trademark status, prosecution history, documents, images
IP Australia	patent, trademark and design quick search; bibliography; legal status
Japan (JPO)	bibliography, legal status, continuity (divisional chain), prior-art citations, designs, trademark; by application number
Taiwan (TIPO)	bibliography, legal status, trademark and trademark image; by application or registration number
Reference (no credentials)	CPC/IPC/FI classifications plus MPEP, TMEP, EPO, EUIPO, WIPO, IP Australia, KIPO, JPO and DPMA guidelines plus the JPO F-term index, all with semantic and keyword search and point-in-time editions

Coverage that spans offices: continuity for US and JP; registered designs for the EU, Australia and Japan; trademark status for the US, EU, Australia, Japan and Taiwan; drawings, document-page images and file-wrapper PDF retrieval where the office provides them.

Fulfills two Wanted-connector items (removed in this PR)

• USPTO by customer number: search_uspto_portfolio_by_customer_number (verified live: customer 24628 returns 7,781 results), paired with get_legal_status / get_patent_term / get_continuity / get_prosecution_timeline.
• USPTO TSDR / Trademark Status: the uspto_tsdr provider (get_trademark_status, get_trademark_documents, get_trademark_image, download_trademark_document).

Removed both from the Wanted list; happy to restore if you'd rather strike them post-merge.

Plugin fit

• portfolio, ip-renewal-watcher: term, register events, customer-number portfolio sync, TSDR deadlines
• fto-triage, invention-intake: cross-jurisdiction search (US, EP, DE, AU) and by-number lookup (JP, TW), full text, semantic classification and guideline lookup (e.g. obviousness to MPEP section 2141)
• clearance: trademark status across the US, EU, Australia, Japan and Taiwan, plus TMEP guidance
• infringement-triage: prosecution history, claims, PTAB

Good legal MCP connector checklist

• Remote MCP over HTTPS with OAuth: Streamable HTTP; OAuth 2.1, dynamic client registration, PKCE (S256). Unauthenticated requests get 401 + WWW-Authenticate. A consent screen gates redirect targets outside the known client set.
• Read-heavy tools: 47 tools; 46 are retrieval and declare readOnlyHint: true. The only write tool is send_feedback (user-initiated feedback to the maintainer).
• Provenance in results: every record carries provider (the source office) and a citation-ready identifier (publication/application number, trademark serial, MPEP/TMEP section, CPC/IPC/FI symbol); reference lookups also return the scheme/manual edition for point-in-time citation.
• No instruction-like content in results: typed JSON; any advisory text is confined to a clearly-keyed note field.
• Graceful degradation: typed provider errors (not_found / validation / timeout / rate_limit / credential_expired) instead of timeouts.

Auth model

OAuth 2.1 + dynamic client registration (public clients, PKCE-S256 when offered). Access tokens are long-lived but revocable from the connector dashboard; a consent screen gates redirect targets outside the known client set. Refresh-token rotation and per-client persistence are planned follow-ups.

Notes

• In the queue for the official MCP directory. The same server passed OpenAI's ChatGPT app review and is live at https://chatgpt.com/apps/patent-connector/asdk_app_69b3aaf82bb0819188b2fc5a2b69280e
• Users bring their own office API keys; classification and examination-manual search works with no credentials.
• A legacy SSE endpoint remains available at patent.dev/mcp/sse for older clients.
• Source: github.com/patent-dev/patent-mcp-server, github.com/patent-dev/uspto-odp

[github-actions]

All contributors have signed the CLA ✍️ ✅
_{Posted by the CLA Assistant Lite bot.}

[wolfgang-stark]

I have read the CLA Document and I hereby sign the CLA

[ailton345ai-star]

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[wolfgang-stark]

Merged the latest main into this and updated it to match the current server.

The connector shipped v1.4 since I opened the PR, so I refreshed the description in .mcp.json and the README. It now also covers EU trademarks and registered Community designs (EUIPO), patent prior-art citations, drawings and document-page images, and file-wrapper retrieval with PDF download. 47 tools now, all read-only except one feedback tool, all annotated with titles and read/destructive hints.

Two things that might help on the review side: it's in the queue for the official MCP directory, and the same server already passed OpenAI's ChatGPT app review — it's live here: https://chatgpt.com/apps/patent-connector/asdk_app_69b3aaf82bb0819188b2fc5a2b69280e

Everything comes from first-party office APIs (USPTO, EPO, DPMA, EUIPO, TSDR); users bring their own keys, and the classification and examination-manual search works with no credentials at all. Happy to set up test access if that helps.

[wolfgang-stark]

Refreshed the PR to match the connector at v1.5.

It now also covers IP Australia (patent, trademark and design quick search, plus bibliography and legal status), Japan (JPO, by application number: bibliography, legal status, divisional continuity, prior-art citations, designs and trademark) and Taiwan (TIPO, by application or registration number: bibliography, legal status, trademark and trademark image). Continuity now spans US and JP, registered designs cover the EU, Australia and Japan, and trademark status covers the US, EU, Australia, Japan and Taiwan.

I also folded the earlier v1.4 additions into the PR description so the body is current: EUIPO trademarks and registered Community designs, prior-art citations, drawings and document-page images, and file-wrapper PDF retrieval. 47 tools now, all read-only except the one feedback tool.

Everything is first-party office APIs with bring-your-own keys; classification and examination-manual search needs no credentials.

[wolfgang-stark]

Hi, hope it's okay to check in on this one :) Is merging community MCP connectors something you're planning to take on at the moment, or is the suite's connector list closed for now? Just want to make sure this PR fits before asking for time on it.

If it's still welcome, this one's ready whenever someone has a moment:

• CLA: signed and green. The CLA Assistant confirms "All contributors have signed the CLA". Looks like the recent CLA fixes (Add CLA.md referenced by CONTRIBUTING.md and the CLA Assistant workflow #72 adding CLA.md, Make the CLA workflow tolerant of comment whitespace and assistant-authored commits #74 making the workflow tolerant of signing-comment whitespace) cleared up the signing mechanics nicely, thanks @tobinsouth / @mattpic-ant.
• Rebased on latest main, no conflicts (MERGEABLE).
• Up to date with the live connector (v1.5). Since opening, I refreshed .mcp.json and the README, and it now also covers IP Australia, Japan (JPO) and Taiwan (TIPO). 47 tools, all read-only except one feedback tool, all annotated with read/destructive hints.

Following the process in CONNECTORS.md, this adds Patent Connector to ip-legal's .mcp.json, the connectors table, and the README. If it's a fit, would it go into the default .mcp.json, or are you leaning toward documenting it in the README for users to add themselves? And is there anything you need from me to run the retrieval-quality and injection-resistance checks mentioned in CONNECTORS.md? Everything is first-party office APIs with bring-your-own keys, and I'm happy to set up test access.

@mattpic-ant @markpikemarkpike, would one of you be able to take a look? Happy to make any changes. Thanks!

[ailton345ai-star]

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