USPTO Trademark Search API

Overview

The Goalie IP Trademark API provides structured access to a continuously-refreshed copy of the USPTO trademark dataset — the same data that powers our search tools. Query by mark name, owner, status, international class, serial number, and more. New here? See the API product overview for a feature summary, TSDR comparison, and pricing.

Why this API vs. USPTO TSDR

The USPTO's own TSDR API returns one record at a time by serial or registration number — there is no way to search by mark text, owner, or class. The Goalie IP API adds full-text, exact, and fuzzy mark search with filtering and pagination across the entire dataset, returning clean JSON built for application use.

Authentication

Every request must include your API key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header. Keys are created and managed in your portal.

Authorization: Bearer gip_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Keys are prefixed with gip_live_ and are 40 characters total. Keep them secret — they are shown only once at creation. You can create up to 5 active keys per account.

Quick start

Search for all active registrations of a mark in a specific class:

curl -X POST https://www.goalieip.com/api/v1/trademarks/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gip_live_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "markLiteral": "ACME",
    "markLiteralMode": "exact",
    "currentStatusCode": ["700", "800"],
    "internationalClasses": ["025"],
    "page": 1,
    "pageSize": 25
  }'

Look up a specific trademark by serial number:

curl https://www.goalieip.com/api/v1/trademarks/97123456 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gip_live_your_key_here"

Code examples

Common recipes in Python and Node.js. Each call returns JSON; replace gip_live_your_key_here with a key from your portal.

Exact mark query (Python)

import requests

resp = requests.post(
    "https://www.goalieip.com/api/v1/trademarks/search",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer gip_live_your_key_here"},
    json={
        "markLiteral": "ACME",
        "markLiteralMode": "exact",
        "currentStatusCode": ["700", "800"],  # live / registered
        "page": 1,
        "pageSize": 25,
    },
)
data = resp.json()
print(data["meta"]["total"], "matches")
for tm in data["data"]:
    print(tm["serialNumber"], tm["markLiteral"], tm["currentStatusCode"])

Serial-number status as JSON (Node.js)

const res = await fetch(
  "https://www.goalieip.com/api/v1/trademarks/97123456",
  { headers: { Authorization: "Bearer gip_live_your_key_here" } }
);
const { data } = await res.json();
console.log(data.markLiteral, "→", data.currentStatusCode, data.currentStatusDate);

Fuzzy mark-literal search (curl)

Find confusingly similar marks using trigram matching — useful for clearance and watch workflows.

curl -X POST https://www.goalieip.com/api/v1/trademarks/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gip_live_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "markLiteral": "Kodak", "markLiteralMode": "fuzzy", "pageSize": 50 }'

Search by owner and class (Python)

resp = requests.post(
    "https://www.goalieip.com/api/v1/trademarks/search",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer gip_live_your_key_here"},
    json={
        "ownerName": "Nike, Inc.",
        "internationalClasses": ["025", "035"],
        "filingDateFrom": "2020-01-01",
        "sortField": "filingDate",
        "sortDir": "desc",
    },
)
print(resp.json()["meta"]["total"], "marks")

POST/api/v1/trademarks/search

Search and filter the trademark database. Returns a paginated list of matching records. Every request must include at least one narrowing filter — one of markLiteral, ownerName, serialNumber, registrationNumber, attorneyName, or goodsAndServices. Class, status, and date filters narrow results further but cannot be used on their own (a query with none of the above returns 400). Results are sorted by filing date descending unless sortField is set.

Request

POST /api/v1/trademarks/search
Authorization: Bearer gip_live_...
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "markLiteral": "NIKE",
  "markLiteralMode": "exact",
  "ownerName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "currentStatusCode": ["700", "800"],
  "internationalClasses": ["025", "035"],
  "filingDateFrom": "2020-01-01",
  "page": 1,
  "pageSize": 25
}

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "serialNumber": "97123456",
      "registrationNumber": "6789012",
      "markLiteral": "NIKE",
      "ownerName": "Nike, Inc.",
      "currentStatusCode": "700",
      "currentStatusDate": "2022-03-15T00:00:00.000Z",
      "filingDate": "2021-06-01T00:00:00.000Z",
      "internationalClasses": ["025"],
      "goodsAndServices": "Athletic footwear and apparel",
      ...
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "total": 61,
    "page": 1,
    "pageSize": 25,
    "callsUsed": 1,
    "callsRemaining": 4999
  }
}

GET/api/v1/trademarks/{serialNumber}

Retrieve a single trademark record by its USPTO serial number. Returns the full record or 404 if not found.

GET /api/v1/trademarks/97123456
Authorization: Bearer gip_live_...

Response

{
  "data": {
    "serialNumber": "97123456",
    "registrationNumber": "6789012",
    "markLiteral": "NIKE",
    ...
  },
  "meta": {
    "callsUsed": 2,
    "callsRemaining": 4998
  }
}

Search parameters

At least one narrowing filter is required (see above); all other fields are optional. Combining multiple fields narrows results (AND logic).

Mark filters

Owner & attorney filters

Classification & goods filters

Status & identifier filters

Date range filters

Pagination & sorting

Response fields

Each record in data[] contains the following fields.

headerFlags

Boolean attributes of the application. Commonly useful flags:

meta

Status codes

The currentStatusCode field uses USPTO internal codes. The most commonly encountered codes by category:

To filter for all live registered marks, pass "currentStatusCode": ["700", "701", "702", "703", "704", "705", "800"].

Drawing codes

The markDrawingCode field indicates the form of the mark drawing submitted to the USPTO.

To find only word marks (no design element), filter for markDrawingCode: "4" (standard characters) or "1" (typed drawing).

Error responses

Errors return a JSON body with an error string and the appropriate HTTP status code.

{ "error": "Monthly call quota of 5000 calls exceeded. Upgrade at https://goalieip.com/subscribe" }

Rate limits

Two limits apply. The monthly quota is enforced at the account level — all API keys on the same account share one monthly pool, reset on the 1st of each calendar month. A separate short-window burst limit caps how many requests a single key may make in a rolling 10-second window, protecting shared capacity; paid tiers are far more generous.

Exceeding the burst limit returns 429 with a Retry-After header (seconds) plus X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, and X-RateLimit-Reset. Back off and retry after the indicated delay. Burst-limited requests do not count against your monthly quota.

Every response includes meta.callsUsed and meta.callsRemaining so you can monitor consumption in your application. Upgrade your plan →

Frequently asked questions

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