Inwood Laboratories, Inc. v. Ives Laboratories, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis
1982
Citation profile
866 federal appellate · 260 district · 93 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,785 later decisions (41 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Anderson v. City of Bessemer City (1985), Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp. (1990)
866 federal appellate · 260 district · 93 state decisions — followed in 14 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
reviewedIves Laboratories, Inc. v. Darby Drug Co. (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 1051 (§ 1 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act)) · 15 U.S.C. § 1114 (§ 32 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act)) · 15 U.S.C. § 1117 (§ 35 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act)) · 15 U.S.C. § 1125 (§ 43 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act)) · 15 U.S.C. § 1127 (§ 45 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act))
Relies on United States v. United States Gypsum Co. · Ohio Bureau of Employment Services v. Hodory · Pullman-Standard v. Swint · Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc.
Cited together with Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc. · United States v. United States Gypsum Co. · Anderson v. City of Bessemer City · Qualitex Co. v. Jacobson Products Co. · Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
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 2,785 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Determining the weight and credibility of the evidence is the special province of the trier of fact.”
107 later decisions quote this exact passage“In general terms, a product feature is functional if it is essential to the use or purpose of the article or if it affects the cost or quality of the article.”
53 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“To establish secondary meaning, a manufacturer must show that, in the minds of the public, the primary significance of a product feature or term is to identify the source of the product rather than the product itself.”
35 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
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.