The invention is a system and method for retrieving and displaying a patent family. The system may be an electronic device, the electronic device comprising a user interface, a database, means for displaying graphical output, and a storage medium containing a database and one or one software modules for retrieving records from the database. The method comprises receiving the number of a U.S. patent application, U.S. Patent Application Publication, or U.S. patent from a user; locating and retrieving from the database any record pertaining to the number; recursively retrieving from the database any records related to said record to construct a patent family; and rendering a diagram depicting the patent family.