Mazer v. Stein’s Empirical Analysis
1954
Citation profile
548 federal appellate · 145 district · 36 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,473 later decisions (53 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2024 · most notably Ker v. State of California (1963), United States v. Dixon (1993)
548 federal appellate · 145 district · 36 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
reviewedStein v. Mazer (from Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Chicot County Drainage District v. Baxter State Bank · United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. · Gunning v. Cooley · Continental Illinois Nat Bank Trust Co of Chicago v. Chicago R I & P Ry Co
Cited together with Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. · Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises · Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. · Celotex Corporation v. Catrett H · Gay v. Parpart
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 1,473 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Unlike a patent, a copyright gives no exclusive right to the art disclosed; protection is given only to the expression of the idea--not the idea itself.”
19 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The economic philosophy behind the clause empowering Congress to grant patents and copyrights is the conviction that encouragement of individual effort by personal gain is the best way to advance public welfare through the talents of authors and inventors in “Science and useful Arts.” Sacrificial days devoted to such creative activities deserve rewards commensurate with the services rendered.”
17 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”
9 later decisions 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.