Benay v. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 federal appellate · 2 district · 2 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 37 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “familiar stock scenes, and characteristics that flow naturally from the works' shared basic plot premise”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Alfred v. Walt Disney Co. · Corbello v. DeVito

2. “may often be decided as a matter of law.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Williams v. Gaye · Williams v. Gaye

3. ““In both the Screenplay and the Film, an American war veteran travels to Japan in the 1870s to train the Imperial Army in modern Western warfare in order to combat a samurai uprising. Not surprisingly, the stories share similar elements as a result of their shared premise. In both, the protagonist starts in America and travels to Japan where he meets the Emperor, who is struggling to modernize Japan. Both, protagonists‘introduce modern warfare to the Imperial ■ Army, using contemporary Western weaponry and tactics. Both works feature a Japanese foil in- the form of the leader of the samurai -rebellion. And in both works the protagonist suffers a personal crisis and is transformed as a result of his interaction with the samurai.” Id. at 625 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Shame on You Productions, Inc. v. Elizabeth Banks