Pendleton v. Acuff-Rose Publications, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 1 state decisions

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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Upon any work, ... a great number of patterns of increasing generality will fit equally well, ... but there is a point in this series of abstractions where they are no longer protected, since otherwise the playwright could prevent the use of his ‘ideas,’ to which, apart from their expression, his [copyright] is never extended.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 740 F. Supp. 1288 - Black v. Gosdin

2. “whether an average lay observer would recognize the alleged copy as having been appropriated from the copyrighted work.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Marigold Foods, Inc. v. Purity Dairies, Inc., and Carden & Cherry Advertising Agency, Inc.