In re de Castelet’s Empirical Analysis
562 F.2d 1236 · 1977
Citation profile
How this case has been cited
Cited by 15 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 1994
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. § 100 · 35 U.S.C. § 101 · 35 U.S.C. § 103
Relies on Gottschalk v. Benson · O'Reilly v. Morse · Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co. · Dolbear v. American Bell Telephone Co. · Dann v. Johnston
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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[C]laims 1, 2, and 19 do not represent “no less of a ‘computer processing program’ than did claim 8 in Benson," because they are limited to the specific application of calculating the number of busy and idle lines in a telephone system. They would not preempt all uses of the algorithm [citing uses of the algorithm outside of the claimed invention], but would preempt only use of the algorithm in calculating the number of busy and idle lines in a telephone system. At the same time, it must be recognized that a patent on these claims would, in practical effect, be a patent on the algorithm itself — albeit in its limited, specific application to calculating the number of busy and idle lines in a telephone system. * * * In view of the foregoing, we hold that claims 1, 2, and 19 do not define a statutory process within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. §§ 100 and 101. [Id. at 617, 194 USPQ at 469-70 (footnotes omitted)].”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“Absent contrary directions, no basis exists for a moratorium on protection of inventions embodying or using computer programs. Such broad prohibition could subject meritorious statutory inventions to unabatable piracy, and could forestall invention disclosure, the hallmark of the patent system, until Congress chooses to act.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. In re Freeman“Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title. [Emphasis ours.]”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. In re Bradley
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.