Maitland v. Gibson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate ·

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

1. ““The first of these claims, as expressed, comprises these three elements: A fixture for electric lights; the piping of a house; and means for electrically insulating the fixture from the piping. The language used in designating the last of these elements is, if literally accepted, inclusive of every kind of insulating device, but it is impossible to accord to the claim any such unlimited scope. The patentee, in Ms specification, fully and particularly described a particular insulating joint, and to it, I think, he must be restricted. lie, of course, could not have intended to broadly assert that he was the first to discover or contrive that two conductive bodies might be mechanically united, and yet be electrically separated, nor Is anything so preposterous now contended on his behalf. The position relied upon is that, regardless of lack of novelty of its elements, separately considered, this claim should be construed and supported as for a new combination, viz. of the fixture, of the pipe, and of any joint insulating the former from the latter. But this position is untenable, In view of the prior state of the art, and of the common knowledge of those who were conversant with it before this patent was applied for. The utmost which it can plausibly be contended that Stieringer did, which had not been precisely done before,—and the assumption of this, except for the argument’s sake, the ‘Ferryboat Exhibit’ repels,—was to insert an insulating joint between the piping of a house ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Horn & Brannen Mfg. Co. v. Pelzer