Richards v. Chase Elevator Co.’s Empirical Analysis
158 U.S. 299 · 1895
Citation profile
171 federal appellate · 52 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 292 later decisions (5 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2005 · most notably Grinnell Washing Mach Co v. E E Johnson Co (1918), Holmes v. Hurst (1899)
171 federal appellate · 52 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
Relies on Brown v. Piper · Dunbar v. Myers · Slawson v. Grand Street Railroad
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 292 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““And the criterion for distinguishing between patentable combination and mere aggregation is thus tersely stated by Mr. Justice Brown in Richards v. Chase Elevator Company, 158 U.S. 299, 302 , 15 S.Ct. 831, 833 , 39 L.Ed. 991 : ‘Unless the combination accomplishes some new result, the mere multiplicity of elements does not make it patentable. So long as each element performs some old and well-known function, the result is not a patentable combination, but an aggregation of elements.’ ””
8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““While patent cases are usually disposed of upon bill, answer, and proof, there is no objection, if the patent be manifestly invalid upon its face, to the point being raised on demurrer, and the case being determined upon issues so formed. We have repeatedly held that a patent may be declared invalid for want of. novelty, though no such defense be set up in the answer.””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“In fact, the combination claimed is a pure aggregation.”
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.