Prior-Art Search API for IP Software Platforms

PQAI changes the way you search for prior art. It helps innovators, businesses, and researchers move their ideas forward with confidence.

An initiative by

Built specifically for teams building IP software

IP search platforms
Invention disclosure & idea-to-IP tools
IP management & workflow SaaS
LegalTech products that touch patents
Innovation management platforms
University tech-transfer software

The Problem

Prior Art Is Infrastructure, Not a Feature

Users expect instant prior-art checks
Patent data is massive and constantly changing
Search relevance is hard to tune
Maintaining a patent corpus is an ongoing engineering burden
Most tools are black boxes

A “simple feature” becomes a full search-engine project.

The Solution

A Plug-and-Play Prior Art Search API

Dedicated prior-art search engine, exposed via API
Semantic search across global patent data
Built for novelty checks and background research
Open-source core for transparency
Privacy-first by design

No patent ingestion.
No search infrastructure.
No black boxes.

How It Works

A simple integration designed for IP software platforms.

Send a concept or invention description

Your platform sends a description, abstract, claims draft, or technical summary to the Prior Art Search API.

PQAI runs semantic prior-art search

The engine searches across global patent data and identifies the most relevant prior art based on meaning, not just keywords.

Receive ranked prior-art results

You get a structured response with the most relevant patents, ranked by similarity and relevance.

Surface results inside your product

Display prior art directly in your UI during idea submission, pre-drafting, research, or screening workflows.

What This Enables Inside Your Product

IP platforms use the Prior Art Search API to power:
All surfaced inside your UI, under your brand.

Instant novelty checks during idea submission

Prior-art lookup before patent drafting begins

Related patents within invention workflows

Background research for IP analysts and attorneys

Early screening to reduce downstream filing risk

Why IP Software Teams Choose PQAI

This is not a general-purpose vector database or a DIY RAG stack.
It’s purpose-built for patent prior-art discovery.

Fast Time to Market

Integrate in days
No patent corpus setup
No embedding pipelines to manage

Production-Ready Search

Handles real-world patent language
Designed for early-stage novelty screening
Scales as your product scales

Transparent by Design

Open-source core enables auditability
No opaque ranking logic or hidden behavior
Easier internal reviews for technical and security teams

Transparent, Predictable Pricing

Clear usage-based pricing
No hidden fees or surprise overages
Easy to model costs as your product scales

Simple, Transparent Pricing

PQAI uses straightforward, usage-based pricing designed for early-stage and growing IP platforms.

Build vs Buy: Why Teams Use an API

Teams that try to build prior-art search internally often face:

Using an API lets teams:

Ship faster
Reduce technical risk
Keep engineering focused on UX and differentiation
For most IP platforms, prior-art search is infrastructure, not the product.
For most IP platforms, prior-art search is infrastructure, not the product. Transparent and predictable pricing

An open, auditable engine also reduces vendor lock-in and simplifies security reviews as your platform grows.

How Teams Typically Integrate

Most IP software platforms integrate PQAI at one or more of these stages:

Security & Data Handling

Designed for confidential invention data and early-stage IP workflows

Security is treated as a baseline requirement, not an afterthought.

Hear from our customers

The use of search terms, applicants and patent classes is a common way of formulating a search pattern. However, we have found that knowledge of patent classes and how they relate to subject matter is not so widespread, especially among users who do not deal with patents on a daily basis. Among other things, PQAI suggests appropriate classes based on a text, which is extremely helpful and time-saving. It also widens the scope of the search.

We use PQAI a lot and can highly recommend it to other users.

PQAI is a fantastic project that provides a user with a powerful patent search tool at their fingertips. It is by far the easiest and most effective way to quickly track down relevant IP utilising natural language queries, surpassing all the other free services I have tried in this field, and even some paid databases. Its API is also a great feature that has been integrated into some of our in-house tools, allowing our designers and researchers to quickly get a view of the patent landscape for a particular idea, without the need to switch their attention to another platform. In a world where some are suspicious of the rise and power of AI, it is wonderful to see it being put to good use like this and freely available to everyone interested.

As an AI Fellow at R42 Group, I spearheaded the development of a cutting-edge patent search tool tailored for the life sciences industry. Leveraging PQAI's robust API as the backend system, I was able to create an innovative solution that significantly enhances patent search capabilities. The swift and expert support from the PQAI team played a crucial role in the success of this project, enabling seamless integration and rapid development.

I value PQAI a lot because it offers a powerful to retrieve patents via a semantic search. My impression is that this semantic search is carried out within the abstracts.

I find the various endpoints very useful, for example that endpoint which returns independent claims specifically.

really liked the experience with PQAI so far! I'm primarily using the semantic search and semantic CPC lookup, mostly through the API and sometimes over the website. Response times are really good, and the API has a nice developer experience.

Designed for Early-Stage and Growing Platforms

You can start small, integrate quickly, and scale usage as adoption grows.