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FousUSPTO Patent Center

Track your USPTO Patent Center applications through an API

Read your Workbench applications, new correspondence and Documents & Transactions from Patent Center with one API call each. A workflow can check each morning's e-Office Action correspondence and email you the list by docket number.

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Works with your own USPTO Patent Center account. Fous is an independent product.

What you can build on Patent Center

  • Get applications from the Workbench

    Build this

    Reads the Applications tab of the Workbench, filtered by Status Category, Status Date or Docket Number, for the Customer Numbers on your profile.

    Takes
    Status category (optional), status date range (optional), docket number (optional)
    Returns
    Application number, attorney docket number, status, status date

  • Get new correspondence

    Build this

    Reads the Correspondence tab of the Workbench for a date range, by Image date for regular correspondence or eNotification date for e-Notifications.

    Takes
    Correspondence method, from date, to date
    Returns
    Application number, attorney docket number, document description, mail room date

  • Get an application's Documents & Transactions

    Build this

    Opens one application in Private view and reads its Documents & Transactions tab: the documents in the file and the transaction history.

    Takes
    Application number
    Returns
    Status, documents with description and mail room date, transactions with date and description

  • Update attorney docket numbers

    Build this

    Selects applications on the Workbench Applications tab and sets a new attorney docket number for each, up to 100 applications at a time.

    Takes
    List of application numbers with their new docket numbers
    Returns
    Application number, old docket number, new docket number

Automate Patent Center with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

  • Morning check of new e-Office Action correspondence

    Build this
    Starts
    Every weekday at 8:00 Eastern Time
    Step 1
    Get the e-Notifications correspondence from the Workbench for the last two days.
    Step 2
    Keep the items that were not there on the last run.
    Step 3
    Email you the list grouped by docket number, with document description and mail room date.

  • Weekly status changes, sent to your docketing system

    Build this
    Starts
    Every Monday at 7:00 Eastern Time
    Step 1
    Get the Workbench applications with a status date in the last 7 days.
    Step 2
    Keep the applications whose status changed since the last run.
    Step 3
    Post application number, docket number, status and status date to your docketing system's webhook.

  • Newly abandoned applications

    Build this
    Starts
    Every weekday at 9:00 Eastern Time
    Step 1
    Get the Workbench applications in the Abandoned status category.
    Step 2
    Keep the applications that were not there on the last run, and stop when there are none.
    Step 3
    For each one, read its Documents & Transactions and email you the five latest document descriptions with mail room dates.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Get applications from the Workbench” would look like.

Example request
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "patentcenter.uspto.gov/get_workbench_applications",
    "input": {
      "status_category": "Pending",
      "status_date_from": "2026-11-05",
      "status_date_to": "2026-11-12"
    }
  }'
Example response
{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "applications": [
      {
        "application_number": "18/000,412",
        "attorney_docket_number": "ACME-0193-US",
        "status": "Non Final Action Mailed",
        "status_date": "2026-11-10"
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

Patent Center’s own options

Patent Center is the USPTO's web interface for filing and managing patent applications, open only to registered, identity-verified users. From the Workbench you can download bib data in XML, and e-Office Action emails a daily notice of new correspondence. The Patent Center page links to the Open Data Portal for patent file wrapper search. The private view of your applications stays in Patent Center.

OptionWhat it coversWhat it takes
Bib data XML downloadBibliographic data for the applications you select on the Workbench Applications tab, as XML.A registered Patent Center account with the applications on your Customer Numbers.
e-Office ActionOne email a day per Customer Number listing new Office communications. The documents themselves are retrieved in Patent Center.Optional enrollment per Customer Number, with up to three email addresses. No paper copy is mailed.
Open Data PortalPatent file wrapper search, through a link on the Patent Center page.Reached from the Patent Center page, outside the Workbench.
Patent Center by handThe Workbench tabs for Saved Submissions, Applications and Correspondence, each application's Documents & Transactions, and filing.A USPTO.gov account with verified identity. The private view needs the Customer Numbers on your profile.

Read on November 12, 2026: Patent Center, Patent Center User Guide (September 2025), e-Office Action program.

Signing in to Patent Center

Patent Center signs you in with a USPTO.gov account: email and password, then a second step with an authenticator app, Okta Verify or a security key. Email is no longer accepted, and since September 11, 2025 every user must have verified their identity. With Fous you sign in through Patent Center's own sign-in with your own account: the login is sealed with AES-256, and code and AI agents never see it.

Worth knowing

The notification date is the mail date
For e-Office Action correspondence, the mailroom or notification date counts as the mailing date, not the day the email arrives.
Only your Customer Numbers are private
Private view, with fees and unpublished information, covers the applications on the Customer Numbers in your profile. Other applications show the Public view: issued patents and published applications.
Paralegals come in through sponsorship
Practitioner support staff do not self-enroll. A registered practitioner sponsors them in Patent Center, and they prepare filings for that practitioner.
Saved submissions last 14 days
The Saved Submissions tab holds submissions saved over the previous 14 calendar days. The Correspondence filters reach back up to 90 days, and Status Date up to 365 days.

More in Government: US federal

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Frequently asked questions

Not for the private view of your applications. Patent Center offers an XML download of bib data from the Workbench and daily e-Office Action emails, and its page links to the USPTO's Open Data Portal for patent file wrapper search. Filing and the private view stay in Patent Center itself.

Enroll your Customer Number in the e-Office Action program. The USPTO sends one email a day per Customer Number, to up to three addresses, and stops mailing paper. You open the documents from the Workbench Correspondence tab or an application's Documents & Transactions tab.

Yes, through sponsorship. A registered practitioner sponsors practitioner support users in Patent Center, and they can prepare filings for that practitioner. Support staff do not go through self-enrollment.

The USPTO no longer accepts email as a second step. You use an authenticator app, Okta Verify or a security key with your USPTO.gov account, and since September 11, 2025 your identity must be verified, through ID.me or a mailed verification form.

No. Fous is an independent product. You use it with your own Patent Center account, and a method reads and does only what that account can.

Put USPTO Patent Center behind an API call

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Fous is an independent product: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the operator of USPTO Patent Center (US Patent and Trademark Office). The name is used only to say which system this page is about. Something here wrong or out of date? Write to legal@fous.com.