Bonnell v. Stoll’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district ·

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

1. ““In the lace web spring, if a single spiral binge wire were employed, instead of the number of hinge wires shown in the exhibit, the same thing would be produced which is pointed out in claim 2 of complainant’s patent. The effect of such a change would be to make one wire do the work of several, and this is the distinctive feature which is relied upon to support the claim. Admitting that it was novel to use one wire, instead of two or more, for a hinge, and that in consequence the patented articles were more rapidly made and sold at a cheaper price than before, and thereby became more useful, it does not appear that originality of invention or discovery was required or exercised in making the change from several wires to one. The cheaper article is not always the better one. The substitution of one material for another, or the reduction or increase in size or weight, is not proof of invention. Such changes result from observation and experience, and most frequently are only the carrying forward of the plans and suggestions which have been already made by others.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Bernz v. Schaefer