Cooper v. Goldfarb’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 1 district ·

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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Indeed, Cooper admits that, even after he conceived the importance of fibril length, he did not convey that information to Goldfarb. He also admits that he did not ask Goldfarb to use grafts with fibril lengths required by the interference count, or to determine the fibril lengths of successful grafts. While Cooper was not required to communicate his conception to Goldfarb, Cooper I, 154 F.3d at 1332 , 47 U.S.P.Q.2d at 1905, his failure to convey any information or requests regarding fibril length prevents Goldfarb’s determination of the fibril lengths of the material from muring to his benefit.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. v. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. · Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. v. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.

2. “[Peter] Cooper was the Plant Manager of [Gore’s] Flagstaff, Arizona facility, and primarily was involved in making ePTFE tubes. Cooper provided the tubes to various researchers, who evaluated their suitability for vascular grafts. During the course of his work, Cooper discovered that material from ePTFE tubes with fibril lengths ... [of about 5 to 100 microns] was suitable for use in vascular grafts. During the same period, Goldfarb was Director of Research and Clinical Staff Surgeon at the Arizona Heart Institute [ (“AHI”) ], and was conducting research on artificial vascular grafts. Between February and April of 1973, Cooper sent Goldfarb a number of ePTFE tubes to use in his research. Although Cooper intended that Goldfarb use the tubes for vascular grafts, Cooper did not have any right of control over Goldfarb’s research, and Goldfarb was not required to use the tubes supplied, by Cooper or to per form his experiments in any particular way. Goldfarb conducted a series of experiments involving 21 grafts made from the tubes Cooper provided. On June 13, 1973, the graft labeled “2-73 RF,” which came from Lot 459-04133-9 provided by Cooper, was determined to be a successful implant in a dog.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. v. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.

3. “In the early 1970s, when the invention was made, ePTFE was produced as tubes that had a structure consisting of solid nodes of PTFE connected by thin PTFE fibrils. The distance between the nodes is referred to as the fibril length [or the internodal distance]. This distance is important to the suitability of the ePTFE material for use as a vascular graft.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. v. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.