American Steel Foundries v. Robertson’s Empirical Analysis
269 U.S. 372 · 1926
Citation profile
193 federal appellate · 69 district · 65 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 659 later decisions (7 by the Supreme Court) — most recently October 2017 · most notably Amf Incorporated v. Sleekcraft Boats E (1979), Miller v. Schoene (1928)
193 federal appellate · 69 district · 65 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedthe decision below (from Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Hanover Star Milling Co. v. Metcalf · United Drug Co. v. Theodore Rectanus Co. · United States v. Steffens · Estate of Beckwith v. Commissioner of Patents
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 659 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The effect of assuming a corporate name by a corporation under the law of its creation is to exclusively appropriate that name. It is an element of the corporation's existence.”
14 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“* * * Where the appropriation of the corporate name is complete, the rule of the statute, by its own terms, is absolute, and the proposed mark must be denied registration, without more; but, where less than the whole name has been appropriated, the right of registration will turn upon whether it appears that such partial appropriation is of such character and extent that, under the facts of the particular case, it is calculated to deceive or confuse the public to the injury of the corporation to which the name belongs.”
9 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“* * * `The law of trade-marks is but a part of the broader law of unfair competition' * * * the general purpose of which is to prevent one person from passing off his goods or his business as the goods or business of another.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.