Most legal tech patents in 2019 were filed by China-based applicants, according to a new Thomson Reuters report. China’s dominance in legal tech patents is likely to continue as its government encourages court innovation and artificial intelligence maintains a significant role in legal tech software, said patent observers and lawyers.

Out of 1,369 legal tech patents filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2019, 847 were filed by applicants in China, according to a Thomson Reuters press statement dated Oct. 29. U.S.-based applicants also applied for 271 filings in 2019, followed by 90 filings in the Republic of Korea, 85 in Japan and 13 in the United Kingdom. Thomson Reuters also crowned China as the top legal tech patent filer in 2018.