In re Smythe’s Empirical Analysis
480 F.2d 1376 · 1973
Citation profile
12 federal appellate · 6 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 54 later decisions — most recently October 2013 · most notably Regents of the University of California v. Lilly & Co. (1997), Brooktree Corporation v. Advanced Micro Devices Inc (1992)
12 federal appellate · 6 district ·
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 35 U.S.C. § 103 · 35 U.S.C. § 112 · 35 U.S.C. § 120
Relies on In re Borkowski · Ruschig · In re Lukach · Technicon Instruments Corp. v. Coleman Instruments Corp. · Thomas Lynn Fields v. Lloyd H. Conover and Robert B. Woodward
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 54 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“A hypothetical situation may make our point clear. If the original specification of a patent application on the scales of justice disclosed only a 1-pound “lead weight” as a counterbalance to determine the weight of a pound of flesh, we do not believe the applicant should be prevented, by the so-called “description requirement” of the first paragraph of § 112, or the prohibition against new matter of § 132, from later claiming the counterbalance as a “metal weight” or simply as a 1-pound “weight,” although both “metal weight” and “weight” would indeed be progressively broader than “lead weight,” including even such an undisclosed, but obviously art-recognized equivalent, “weight” as a pound of feathers. The broader claim language would be permitted because the description of the use and function of the lead weight as a scale counterbalance in the whole disclosure would immediately convey to any person skilled in the scale art the knowledge that the applicant invented a scale with a 1-pound counterbalance weight, regardless of its composition.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage“`unpredictability in performance of certain species or subcombinations other than those specifically enumerated'”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“Specifically, we find that the fact that microcrystalline wax does stick/adhere to the expanded PTFE floss filament to be both surprising and unexpected. As such, it is our belief that this is not a case where there is predictability such that the appellants’ description of a dental cleaning floss made from PTFE having a coating of a microcrystalline wax to increase the coefficient of friction of the PTFE would convey to one skilled in the art knowledge that the appellants invented a dental cleaning floss made from PTFE having a coating of a[t] least one material capable of increasing the coefficient of friction of the PTFE.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.