Butterfield v. Oculus Contact Lens Company’s Empirical Analysis
1971
Citation profile
4 federal appellate · 2 district · 2 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 24 later decisions — most recently August 2017
4 federal appellate · 2 district · 2 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.
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1407 · 35 U.S.C. § 101 · 35 U.S.C. § 102 · 35 U.S.C. § 132 · 35 U.S.C. § 282 · 35 U.S.C. § 287
Relies on Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation · Lear, Inc. v. Adkins · Brenner v. Manson · Coupe v. Royer · United States v. Saylor
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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““In addition to adding the concept of a lens ‘conforming’ or ‘corresponding in curvature’ to the cornea curvature, the amendment also added with respect to the central corneal area ‘so that undue pressure will not be present at any point’ and with respect to the peripheral area ‘whereby space is provided for the natural uninterrupted circulation of lacromal fluids between said lens and the cornea.’ While these phrases simply describe the purpose of the construction and not the patented device, they represent a new and different objective than that stated in the original application.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“There certainly can be factual situations in which a licensor and licensee may be in privity but it does not follow that they always are”
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.