Coats v. Merrick Thread Co.’s Empirical Analysis
149 U.S. 562 · 1893
Citation profile
119 federal appellate · 26 district · 46 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 290 later decisions (9 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2003 · most notably Hanover Star Milling Co. v. Metcalf (1916), International News Service v. Associated Press (1918)
119 federal appellate · 26 district · 46 state decisions — followed in 19 states
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 McLean v. Fleming · Manufacturing Co. v. Trainer · Gilman v. Hunnewell · McLaughlin v. People's Railway Co.
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 290 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Rival manufacturers may lawfully compete for the patronage of the public in the quality and price of their goods, in the beauty and tastefulness of their inclosing packages, in the extent of their advertising, and in the employment of agents; but they have no right, by imitative devices, to beguile the public into buying their wares under the impression they are buying those of their rivals.””
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““If the imix'haser of sucli thread desires a particular make, he should, either call for such, in which case the dealer, if he put off on him a different make, would be guilry of fraud, for which the defendants would not be responsible, or should examine himself the lettering on the spools. He is chargeable with knowledge of the fact that any manufacturer of six-cord thread has a right to use a black and gold label, and is bound to examine such label with sufficient care to ascertain the name of the manufacturer.””
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““We think the defendants have clearly disproved any intention on their part to mislead the dealers who purchase of them. Indeed, such dealers could not possibly fall to know what they were buying, and the fraud, if any, was practiced on the buyer of a single or a small number of spools, who might be Induced to purchase the thread of the defendants for that of the plaintiffs.””
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.