Star Athletica, L. L. C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis
580 U.S. 405 · 2017
Citation profile
11 federal appellate · 6 district · 8 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 82 later decisions (9 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 2025 · most notably Holloman ex rel. Holloman v. Harland (2004), Matal v. Tam (2017)
11 federal appellate · 6 district · 8 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.
Relationships
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 1051 (§ 1 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act)) · 17 U.S.C. § 101 (§ 101 of the Copyright Act of 1976) · 17 U.S.C. § 102 (§ 101 of the Copyright Act of 1976) · 17 U.S.C. § 113 (§ 101 of the Copyright Act of 1976) · 17 U.S.C. § 706 (§ 101 of the Copyright Act of 1976) · 17 U.S.C. § 901 · 35 U.S.C. § 171
Relies on Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. · Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation v. LTV Corp. · Mazer v. Stein · Estate of Cowart v. Nicklos Drilling Co. · Walters v. Metropolitan Educational Enterprises, 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 82 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“give effect to the clear meaning of statutes as written.”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“considered a pictorial, graphical, or sculptural work only if, and only to the extent that, such design incorporates pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that can be identified separately from, and are capable of existing independently of, the utilitarian aspects of the article.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“an article having an intrinsic utilitarian function that is not merely to portray the appearance of the article or to convey information.”
4 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.