DiviTree and Asian legal event codes: Visualising patent family complexity in the Era of Asian patent dominance: A Tool for Exploring INPADOC Families, Divisional Applications, and Legal Status Tracking Across Asian Jurisdictions

DiviTree and Asian legal event codes: Visualising patent family complexity in the Era of Asian patent dominance: A Tool for Exploring INPADOC Families, Divisional Applications, and Legal Status Tracking Across Asian Jurisdictions

Journal article

1 volume.

With over 60% of global patent applications now originating from Asia (primarily China, Japan, and South Korea), understanding patent family structures and tracking legal status developments across Asian jurisdictions has become essential for patent professionals. This paper presents DiviTree, a visualisation tool developed within the European Patent Office's Technology Intelligence Platform that transforms INPADOC family data into interactive sunburst charts. DiviTree integrates jurisdiction-specific legal event codes from China, Japan, South Korea, and other Asian patent offices, enabling comparative analysis of prosecution patterns and filing strategies. Through case studies on families of Japanese optical disc technology, Korean wireless telecommunications standards, Chinese battery technology, and Chinese medical device insulin delivery systems, the author demonstrates how DiviTree supports examination coordination, patent landscape analysis, and cross-jurisdictional prosecution monitoring in an Asian-dominated patent landscape. This work is based on a presentation delivered at the EPO Knowledge Library Webinar KL06-2025 on patent families and beyond.

Crossref

World Patent Information ; 86, September, 2026

World Patent Information

Oxford [England] : Elsevier Ltd., 2026.

eng

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0172219023000108

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