swiss ip mcp

🇨🇭 Part of the Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio

💡 swiss-ip-mcp

MCP Server for Swiss Intellectual Property Data (IGE/IPI)

🇩🇪 Deutsche Version → README.de.md

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Overview

swiss-ip-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives AI models structured, language-driven access to the Swiss intellectual property register Swissreg, operated by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE/IPI).

It is the successor to patent-mcp and covers all available domains of the Swissreg Datadelivery API: trademarks, patents, patent publications, and supplementary protection certificates (SPC/ESZ).

This server is model-agnostic. It works with Claude, GPT-4, Llama, and any other MCP-compatible client – not just Claude Desktop.

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Example Queries

The real power is natural language. Instead of manually searching the register, just ask a question:

"Which trademarks does the City of Zurich hold at the IGE?"

"Is the name 'Learning City Zurich' registered as a trademark in Switzerland?"

"Which pharmaceutical companies have filed Swiss patents in the last six months?"

"Show me all trademark applications in the education sector (Nice class 41) since January 2025."

"What supplementary protection certificates does Novartis hold in Switzerland?"

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Covered Domains

Domain	Description
Trademarks	Swiss trademark register – filing, protection, owners, Nice classes
Patents	CH patents – filing, grant, IPC classes, applicants, inventors
Patent publications	Official patent publications in the Swiss Official Gazette
SPC / ESZ	Supplementary protection certificates for medicinal and plant-protection products

Note: Design search is not yet available in the Swissreg Datadelivery API.

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Tools (11)

Tool	Function
swiss_ip_search_trademarks	Free-text trademark search (wildcard * supported)
swiss_ip_get_trademark	Retrieve a trademark by registration number
swiss_ip_search_trademarks_by_owner	Find all trademarks held by a given owner
swiss_ip_search_trademarks_by_class	Filter trademarks by Nice classification class
swiss_ip_search_patents	Free-text patent search
swiss_ip_get_patent	Retrieve a patent by number
swiss_ip_search_patents_by_applicant	Find patents by applicant or inventor name
swiss_ip_search_patent_publications	Search patent publications
swiss_ip_search_spc	SPC/ESZ search (pharma and plant protection)
swiss_ip_search_recent_filings	Filter filings by date range across all domains
swiss_ip_get_quota	Check remaining API data transfer quota

Resources & Prompts

Beyond tools, the server exposes two more MCP primitives:

Resources (read-only metadata, swissip:// URI scheme):

URI	Content
swissip://about	Server + data-source metadata (provenance, covered domains)
swissip://domains	List of covered IP domains

Prompts (curated workflow templates):

Prompt	Arguments	Purpose
trademark_availability	name	Check whether a name is a registered Swiss trademark
competitor_ip_report	company	IP overview (trademarks + patents) for a company
recent_ip_filings_report	ip_type, date_from, date_to	Report on recent filings in a period

Error semantics

Tool execution errors (API failures, timeouts, missing credentials) are returned with MCP isError: true and a masked, user-friendly message — internal details (stack traces, raw API bodies) go only to the server log. A specific number lookup that finds nothing is not an error: it returns a normal result with match_type: "none" and a message.

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Project Phase

This server is in Phase 1 (read-only) of the MCP phased-rollout model: every tool is read-only and writes nothing. See ROADMAP.md for the phase plan and the prerequisites for any future write-capable phase.

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Architecture

AI client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code + Continue, …)
         │
         │  MCP (stdio or SSE)
         ▼
   swiss-ip-mcp
         │
         │  HTTPS + OAuth2 (IGE IDP)
         ▼
  Swissreg Datadelivery API
  https://www.swissreg.ch/public/api/v1
         │
         ├── TrademarkSearch
         ├── PatentSearch
         ├── PatentPublicationSearch
         ├── SPCSearch
         └── UserQuota

Transport Modes

Transport	Use case	Configuration
stdio	Claude Desktop, local development	Default (no extra setup)
Streamable HTTP	Cloud deployment (Render.com etc.)	MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http
SSE	Legacy HTTP clients	MCP_TRANSPORT=sse

Transport is selected at startup from the MCP_TRANSPORT environment variable (default stdio). The HTTP transports are served by uvicorn and honour:

Variable	Default	Purpose
MCP_HOST	127.0.0.1	Bind address. Use 0.0.0.0 only inside a container / behind a reverse proxy.
PORT / MCP_PORT	8000	Bind port (PORT wins — PaaS convention).
MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	(empty)	Comma-separated CORS origin allow-list. No wildcard in production.
MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS	(empty)	Comma-separated Host-header allow-list; enables DNS-rebinding protection when set.

The Mcp-Session-Id header is exposed via CORS so browser-based clients can read and echo it on follow-up requests.

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Prerequisites

1. IGE credentials (free): Sign the terms of use and send the form by post to the IGE. Credentials are issued upon receipt.
2. Python 3.11 or later
3. uv (recommended) or pip

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Installation

# Run directly with uv (recommended, no local installation needed)
uvx swiss-ip-mcp

# Local development installation
git clone https://github.com/malkreide/swiss-ip-mcp
cd swiss-ip-mcp
pip install -e ".[dev]"

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Configuration

Environment Variables

export IGE_USERNAME="your_username"
export IGE_PASSWORD="your_password"

Claude Desktop

Open the config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "swiss-ip": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["swiss-ip-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "IGE_USERNAME": "your_username",
        "IGE_PASSWORD": "your_password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Other MCP Clients

swiss-ip-mcp is compatible with any MCP-capable client:

Client	Configuration
Cursor	Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (same format as Claude Desktop)
VS Code + Continue	Add via continue.json MCP server block
Windsurf	Add via MCP server settings
Self-hosted (mcp-proxy)	Use SSE transport with MCP_TRANSPORT=sse

Cloud / Render.com (Streamable HTTP)

MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http \
  MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0 PORT=8000 \
  MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS="https://your-client.example" \
  MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS="your-app.onrender.com" \
  IGE_USERNAME=... IGE_PASSWORD=... \
  swiss-ip-mcp

Security note: bind to 0.0.0.0 only inside a container or behind a reverse proxy. Always set MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS and MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS for public deployments — this enables CORS scoping and DNS-rebinding protection. The endpoint is unauthenticated and serves only public IP-register data; do not place credentialed or non-public tools behind this transport without adding authentication first.

Docker / Kubernetes

A hardened multi-stage Dockerfile (non-root UID 10001, HEALTHCHECK on /health), a docker-compose.yml with resource limits, and Kubernetes manifests + an HAProxy sticky-session config under deploy/ are included.

docker compose up --build   # reads IGE_* from .env

See docs/deployment.md for hardening, resource limits and scaling (stateless vs. sticky-session) details.

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Tests

# Unit tests (no credentials needed)
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -v

# Including live integration tests against the real API
IGE_USERNAME=... IGE_PASSWORD=... PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -v

The CI workflow runs on Python 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13.

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Observability (optional)

The server can emit OpenTelemetry traces — one span per tool call plus child spans for the backend Swissreg/IDP HTTP calls. Tracing is off by default and adds no overhead until enabled.

pip install 'swiss-ip-mcp[otel]'

MCP_OTEL_ENABLED=1 \
  OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://your-collector:4318 \
  MCP_ENV=production \
  swiss-ip-mcp

Variable	Purpose
MCP_OTEL_ENABLED	Set to 1 to enable trace export (or just set the endpoint below).
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT	OTLP/HTTP collector endpoint (standard OTEL variable).
MCP_ENV	Value for the deployment.environment resource attribute (default production).

Tool spans carry only mcp.tool.name and mcp.tool.result.is_error — no query arguments, credentials or response bodies are recorded.

Logging

The server logs structured JSON to stderr (stdout is reserved for the stdio protocol). Every tool call binds a tool name and a correlation_id, so all log lines for one call are correlated. Set the level with LOG_LEVEL (DEBUG / INFO / WARNING / ERROR, default INFO):

{"event": "tool.call.start", "tool": "swiss_ip_search_trademarks", "correlation_id": "da55…", "level": "info", "timestamp": "…Z"}

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MCP Protocol Version

This server speaks two protocol eras over the same endpoint. The client's first request on a connection decides which one applies; a later claim from the other era is refused.

Era	Revision	Who reaches it
initialize handshake	2024-11-05 … 2025-11-25	What today's clients speak. The server answers with the revision asked for, or with the 2025-11-25 ceiling when the request asks for something newer.
Per-request envelope	2026-07-28	A request carrying the 2026-07-28 _meta envelope opens a modern connection.

Both revisions are pinned in tests/test_protocol_version.py and asserted against the installed SDK, so a Dependabot bump of mcp cannot move either one silently. This server builds no ASGI app to send an initialize through, so the gate asserts the SDK constants rather than a measured response — the weaker form, named rather than left unsaid.

Note that the SDK's LATEST_PROTOCOL_VERSION is an alias for the modern era, not for the handshake era — pinning against it alone would leave the era that current clients actually negotiate free to drift.

Update policy. When the gate fails, do not edit the constant blindly: read the spec changelog between the two revisions, verify the server still behaves, then move the constant, this section, README.de.md and CHANGELOG.md together.

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Data Source

All data is provided by the IGE/IPI Swissreg Datadelivery API. The API is free after signing the usage terms, subject to a monthly data transfer quota. Check your remaining quota at any time using the swiss_ip_get_quota tool.

Field	Value
Provider	Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE/IPI)
Source	Swissreg Datadelivery API — https://www.swissreg.ch/public/apidocs/
License / terms	IGE/IPI Swissreg Datadelivery API Terms of Use

Provenance: every tool response carries a source block (provider, source URL, license) so downstream consumers retain attribution. The result envelope is { source, total, count, match_type, results, next_page_token }.

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Safety & Limits

• Read-only: All tools perform authenticated POST requests to the Swissreg API — no data is written, modified, or deleted on any system.
• No personal data: The API returns public IP register entries (trademark names, patent titles, applicant organisations). No personally identifiable information (PII) is processed or stored by this server beyond what the IGE API returns in its public records.
• Rate limits & quota: The IGE Swissreg API enforces a monthly data transfer quota per account. Use the swiss_ip_get_quota tool to monitor remaining quota. The server enforces a 60s timeout per request. Avoid large page_size values (>20) for exploratory queries.
• Authentication: Credentials (IGE_USERNAME, IGE_PASSWORD) are read from environment variables at runtime and never logged or persisted.
• Terms of service: Data is subject to the IGE Swissreg Datadelivery API terms of use. A signed usage agreement with IGE/IPI is required before API access is granted.
• Address list verified without credentials (2026-08-08). Every address, the Keycloak realm and the client_id this server builds are the ones the source publishes. A null result — and recorded as one, because a null result nobody wrote down is not one on the next pass. Three independent proofs, because one would not have carried:
  • The IDP discriminates: realms/egov with wrong credentials → invalid_grant ("Invalid user credentials"); an invented realm → 404 "Realm does not exist"; an invented client_id → invalid_client. So realm and client exist and only the credentials are missing.
  • The realm declares its own token endpoint under .well-known/openid-configuration — identical to the URL built here.
  • The official API documentation states both addresses verbatim, including the client_id as a "constant string".
• Why the third proof is needed: the Swissreg API itself does not discriminate. A POST without a token returns 403, with an invented token 401 — and a freely invented path under /public/api/ returns exactly the same. A status code proves nothing there. scripts/record_fixtures.py re-measures this on every run and aborts if a control stops discriminating.
• Response payloads are not recorded. They need credentials; PROVENANCE.md lists them as NOT RECORDED with the measured status rather than giving them a date they never had. What stays unproven is the shape of the responses — whether the XML fields are named as the parser reads them.
• No guarantees: This server is a community project, not affiliated with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE/IPI). Availability depends on upstream API uptime.

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Related Servers

Server	Content
zurich-opendata-mcp	City of Zurich open data (CKAN, weather, parking, geodata)
fedlex-mcp	Swiss federal law via Fedlex SPARQL
swiss-transport-mcp	Public transport, disruptions, tickets, train formations
swiss-road-mobility-mcp	Shared mobility, EV charging stations, traffic data
global-education-mcp	UNESCO / OECD education data
patent-mcp	⚠️ Deprecated – superseded by this server

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Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md (Deutsch) for how to report bugs and submit changes.

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Security

See SECURITY.md for the security posture, hardening summary, and how to report a vulnerability.

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License

MIT License — see LICENSE

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Author

Hayal Oezkan · github.com/malkreide

Installation

Run via uv's uvx — no clone or manual install needed. Add to your MCP client config (mcpServers for Claude Desktop, Cursor and Windsurf; use a top-level servers key for VS Code in .vscode/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "swiss-ip-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "swiss-ip-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "IGE_USERNAME": "<your IGE_USERNAME>",
        "IGE_PASSWORD": "<your IGE_PASSWORD>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Requires credentials: set IGE_USERNAME, IGE_PASSWORD (replace the placeholder values above).