aid: us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit url: >- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit/refs/heads/main/apis.yml apis: - aid: us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit:pacer name: PACER - Public Access to Court Electronic Records tags: - Federal Courts - PACER - Case Records - Legal humanURL: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/file-case/court-cmecf-lookup/court/CAFC properties: - url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/file-case/court-cmecf-lookup/court/CAFC type: Documentation - url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/file-case/developer-resources type: APIReference title: PACER Developer Resources - url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-authentication-api-user-guide type: Documentation title: PACER Authentication API User Guide - url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-case-locator-pcl-api-user-guide type: Documentation title: PACER Case Locator (PCL) API User Guide description: >- Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) provides online access to U.S. Federal Court case and docket information from Federal Courts including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). PACER provides the Authentication API and the Case Locator (PCL) API for programmatic access to federal court records and case data. - aid: us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit:opinions-orders name: Federal Circuit Opinions and Orders tags: - Federal Courts - Opinions - Legal Decisions - Legal humanURL: https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/home/case-information/opinions-orders/ properties: - url: https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/home/case-information/opinions-orders/ type: Documentation title: Opinions and Orders Search description: >- Public access to U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinions, orders, and judgments. Includes precedential opinions, Rule 36 judgments, non-ministerial orders, and errata. Available online from October 1, 2004, to present. PDF documents accessible directly from cafc.uscourts.gov. - aid: us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit:case-records name: Federal Circuit Case Records tags: - Federal Courts - Case Records - Legal humanURL: https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/home/case-information/case-records/ properties: - url: https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/home/case-information/case-records/ type: Documentation - url: https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/home/case-information/ type: GettingStarted - url: >- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit/refs/heads/main/json-schema/cafc-case-schema.json type: JSONSchema title: Federal Circuit Case Schema - url: >- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit/refs/heads/main/json-schema/cafc-opinion-schema.json type: JSONSchema title: Federal Circuit Opinion Schema - url: >- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit/refs/heads/main/json-schema/cafc-docket-entry-schema.json type: JSONSchema title: PACER Docket Entry Schema description: >- Case information and records for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Cases filed on or after March 1, 2012, are available through PACER or at public terminals in the Clerk's Office. The court provides aggregated case statistics via a data request process. name: US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit tags: - Federal Government - Legal - Patent Law - Federal Courts - Appellate Courts type: Index image: https://kinlane-productions.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg access: 3rd-Party created: '2024-12-25' modified: '2026-05-03' position: Consumer description: >- The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is a federal appellate court with nationwide jurisdiction over cases involving patent law, international trade, government contracts, federal employment, veterans' benefits, and other specialized areas of federal law. The court provides public access to opinions and orders online from 2004 to present, with full case records accessible via PACER for cases filed after March 1, 2012. The PACER system offers developer APIs including the Authentication API and the Case Locator (PCL) API for programmatic access to federal case data across all federal courts. common: - type: Website url: https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/ - type: Documentation url: https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/home/case-information/ title: Case Information - type: Documentation url: https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/home/case-information/opinions-orders/ title: Opinions and Orders - type: GettingStarted url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/ title: PACER Registration - type: APIReference url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/file-case/developer-resources title: PACER Developer Resources - type: Documentation url: https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/home/rules-procedures/ title: Rules and Procedures - type: Contact url: https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/home/about-the-court/contact/ title: Contact the Court - type: Features data: - name: PACER Case Locator API description: >- Programmatic access to the nationwide federal court case index via the PACER Case Locator (PCL) API, enabling searches for cases and associated parties across all federal courts including the Federal Circuit. - name: PACER Authentication API description: >- API allowing automated authentication to PACER without a user interface, enabling programmatic access to court records using PACER credentials. - name: CM/ECF Electronic Filing description: >- Court's electronic filing system (CM/ECF) for filing and managing case documents. Provides XML tags and NextGen CM/ECF integration. - name: Online Opinions and Orders description: >- Free public access to all Federal Circuit opinions, orders, and judgments published from October 2004 to present in PDF format. - name: Scheduled Cases Calendar description: >- Online calendar of scheduled oral argument cases and courtroom assignments at the Federal Circuit. - name: Statistical Reports description: >- Aggregated case statistics and reports available through the court's media and public information pages, plus data request process. - type: UseCases data: - name: Patent Case Legal Research description: >- Researching Federal Circuit patent law precedent using published opinions, orders, and PACER case dockets. - name: Federal Employment and Veterans Claims Research description: >- Finding Federal Circuit decisions on government contracts, federal employment, veterans benefits, and specialized federal jurisdiction. - name: Court Records Access via PACER description: >- Programmatic access to Federal Circuit case dockets, filings, and documents using the PACER Authentication API and Case Locator API. - name: Appellate Monitoring description: >- Monitoring active Federal Circuit cases, oral arguments, and new opinions relevant to specific technology, trade, or legal areas. - name: Legal Data Analytics description: >- Using PACER data to analyze trends in Federal Circuit patent, trade, and government contract decisions for legal research. - type: Vocabulary url: >- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit/refs/heads/main/vocabulary/us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit-vocabulary.yml title: US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Vocabulary - type: JSONLD url: >- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit/refs/heads/main/json-ld/us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit-context.jsonld title: US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit JSON-LD Context - type: Integrations data: - name: PACER System description: >- Federal Circuit case records fully integrated with the nationwide PACER federal court records system and CM/ECF filing system. - name: CourtListener description: >- Free Law Project's CourtListener provides API access to Federal Circuit opinions and RECAP-archived PACER documents. - name: Justia Dockets description: >- Justia aggregates Federal Circuit case docket information and provides public access to filings. maintainers: - FN: Kin Lane email: kin@apievangelist.com specificationVersion: '0.19'