DeForest Radio Co. v. General Electric Co.’s Empirical Analysis
283 U.S. 664 · 1931
Citation profile
130 federal appellate · 72 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 321 later decisions (30 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 1998 · most notably Altoona Publix Theatres, Inc. v. American Tri-Ergon Corp. (1935), Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America v. United States (1943)
130 federal appellate · 72 district · 1 state decisions
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
reviewedGeneral Electric Co. v. De Forest Radio Co. (from Third Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Corona Cord Tire Co. v. Dovan Chemical Corp. · Le Roy v. Tatham · General Electric Co. v. De Forest Radio Co. · Great Northern Ry. Co. v. Delmar 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 321 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Whether DeForest knew the scientific explanation of it is unimportant, since he did know and use the device and employed the methods, which produced the desired results, and which are the device and methods of the patent.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“"The number of electrons emitted by the filament is determined by its temperature. But the current passing through the plate loud speaker circuit depends on the number of electrons drawn from the filament to the plate, and this in turn depends on the voltage of the current passing to the filament. “When it is high enough to force all the electrons emitted by the filament to pass from filament to plate, increase in the voltage at the filament will not produce an increase in current in the loud speaker circuit and the tube is then said to be ‘saturated.’ As successful operation of the tube depends on the response of the loud speaker current to changes in voltage effected by the voice or input current, the tube is most efficiently operated at a voltage of a range below saturation, and a current within this range is known as the ‘space current.’ "”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““ By August, 1912, the Telegraph Company used De Forest amplifying audions at 54 volts, and, by November, they were used by another at 67% volts. This was possible only because the tubes had thus been exhausted of gas which would otherwise have ionized with blue glow at from 20 to 30 volts.””
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.