Perplexity launches Patents Research Agent in beta

Perplexity has launched a new research tool called Perplexity Patents, now available in a global free beta directly within its main platform. This release is designed for engineers, researchers, founders, patent attorneys, and IP teams, transforming plain-language queries into structured patent investigations. Users can pose complex questions such as “recent LLM patents in multilingual training” and receive synthesized answers with inline citations and links to original documents. The tool maintains follow-up context and suggests related next steps, enabling iterative deep dives across the patent landscape.

At its core, Perplexity Patents employs a specialized agent architecture that breaks down user queries into parallel retrieval tasks. It operates on a dedicated index built from global patent databases and is supported by Perplexity’s proprietary exabyte-scale search infrastructure. The results are curated using large-scale document synthesis, sometimes referencing hundreds of documents per answer, and also include links to non-patent prior art like research papers or open-source repositories. Usage is metered: free-tier users have limited daily access, while Pro and Max users benefit from higher quotas and advanced model configuration options.

This release extends Perplexity’s citation-first strategy into legal and technical domains where accuracy and breadth are crucial. It is designed to eliminate reliance on arcane Boolean syntax or rigid keyword matches found in traditional patent tools. Perplexity positions it as particularly valuable for prior-art analysis, novelty checks, claim comparison, and broad landscape studies without requiring expert-level search skills. As of launch, it is publicly accessible to all users worldwide, with no regional restrictions.

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