Data Concepts, Inc. v. Digital Consulting, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis
150 F.3d 620 · 1998
Citation profile
17 federal appellate · 3 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 41 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2023 · most notably Brookfield Communications, Inc. v. West Coast Entertainment Corp. (1999), Therma-Scan, Inc. v. Thermoscan, Inc. (2002)
17 federal appellate · 3 district ·
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
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 1114 (§ 32 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act)) · 15 U.S.C. § 1125 (§ 43 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act))
Relies on Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. · Frisch's Restaurants, Inc. v. Elby's Big Boy of Steubenville, Inc. · Homeowners Group, Inc. v. Home Marketing Specialists, Inc. · Champions Golf Club Inc v. The Champions Golf Club Inc · Wynn Oil Company v. American Way Service Corporation a
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 41 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“the previously used mark is 'the legal equivalent of the mark in question or indistinguishable therefrom' such that consumers 'consider both as the same mark.' " Data Concepts, Inc. v. Digital Consulting, Inc., 150 F.3d 620 , 623 (6th Cir.1998) (quoting Van Dyne-Crotty, Inc. v. Wear-Guard Corp., 926 F.2d 1156 , 1159 (Fed.Cir.1991)); accord Van Dyne-Crotty, 926 F.2d at 1159. This constructive use theory is known as "tacking,”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“create the same, continuing commercial impression”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“the marks must be viewed in their entirety and in context [and a] court must determine, in light of what occurs in the marketplace, whether the mark will be confusing to the public when singly presented.”
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.