Belford Clarke Co v. Scribner’s Empirical Analysis
144 U.S. 488 · 1892
Citation profile
59 federal appellate · 10 district · 16 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 135 later decisions (10 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2025 · most notably Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co. (1903), Sheldon v. Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corp. (1940)
59 federal appellate · 10 district · 16 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Elizabeth v. Pavement Co. · Callaghan v. Myers · Davies v. Miller
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 135 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““It is to be inferred that Donohue & Henneberry made a profit from printing the piratical books. They were, therefore, sharers in the profits realized from the sale of the books, and were participes criminis with the defendant corporation in the infringement;, that the two sets of defendants together printed and published the books, and were practically partners in doing it.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The opinion of the Circuit Court further correctly said: ‘It is certain that, if there is any ownership in this work by copyright at all, it is in the complainant, in whose name the copyright was taken and now stands, so far as is shown by the proof in this case. If the law of the domicile of Mrs. Ter-hune (Marion Harland) entitles her husband to any part of her earnings, that is a matter to be settled between her husband and the complainant, and which the defendants cannot interpose as a defense to a trespass upon the complainant’s property rights in this copyrighted book.’ ””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Lederer v. Saake““It is also contended that the copyright of 1880 was invalid because no sufficient proof appeared that two copies of that book were duly deposited. We are of opinion that the certificate of the librarian of Congress set forth in the margin, as printed in the record, that two copies of the new edition of the plaintiff’s copyrighted book were received by him November 15, 1880, which was within ten days after the publication, was competent evidence, although the certificate was not under seal.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.