General Talking Pictures Corporation v. Western Electric Co’s Empirical Analysis
305 U.S. 124 · 1938
Citation profile
44 federal appellate · 26 district · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 192 later decisions (16 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 2025 · most notably Aro Manufacturing Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co. (1961), Aro Manufacturing Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co. (1964)
44 federal appellate · 26 district · 3 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
reviewedWestern Electric Co. v. General Talking Pictures Corp. (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Motion Picture Patents Company v. Universal Film Manufacturing Company · United States v. General Electric Co. · Carbice Corporation of America v. American Patents Development Corporation · Morgan Envelope Co. v. Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Co. · Henry v. A. B. Dick 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 192 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he patentee may grant a license 'upon any condition the performance of which is reasonably within the reward which the patentee by the grant of the patent is entitled to secure.'”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The practice of granting licenses for a restrictive use is an old one, see Rubber Co. v. Goodyear, 9 Wall. 788 , 799, 800, 19 L.Ed. 566 ; Gamewell Fire-Alarm Telegraph Co. v. [City of] Brooklyn, C.C., 14 F. 255 . So far as appears, its legality has never been questioned.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“Pictures Corporation * * * is in no better position than if it had manufactured the amplifiers itself without a license. It is liable because it has used the invention without license to do so.”
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.