Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Stiffel Co.’s Empirical Analysis
1964
Citation profile
522 federal appellate · 170 district · 208 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,719 later decisions (43 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 2021 · most notably Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation (1971), Inwood Laboratories, Inc. v. Ives Laboratories, Inc. (1982)
522 federal appellate · 170 district · 208 state decisions — followed in 25 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 Stiffel Company, and Cross-Appellee v. Sears, Roebuck and Co., and Cross-Appellant (from Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1338 · 35 U.S.C. § 1 (American Inventors Protection Act of 1999) · 35 U.S.C. § 154 · 35 U.S.C. § 271
Relies on Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp. · Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co. · Cuno Engineering Corporation v. Automatic Devices Corporation · Compco Corp. v. Day-Brite Lighting, Inc.
Cited together with Compco Corp. v. Day-Brite Lighting, Inc. · Kewanee Oil Co. v. Bicron Corp. · Bonito Boats, Inc. v. Thunder Craft Boats, Inc. · Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co. · Lear, Inc. v. Adkins
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 1,719 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“be labeled or that other precautionary steps be taken to prevent customers from being misled as to the source.”
46 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.”
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[T]he patent monopoly may not be used in disregard of the antitrust laws.”
13 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.