Whitely v. Swayne’s Empirical Analysis
74 U.S. 685 · 1868
Citation profile
6 federal appellate · 7 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 28 later decisions (3 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2012 · most notably Alexander Milburn Co. v. Davis-Bournonville Co. (1926), Corona Cord Tire Co. v. Dovan Chemical Corp. (1928)
6 federal appellate · 7 district ·
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.
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 28 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ The plaintiff’s title rests upon a patent for improvements in a machine for harvesting clover and grass seed, which improvements, after a full and fair trial, resulted in unsuccessful experiments, and were finally abandoned. They never went into any useful or practical operation, and nothing more was heard of them from Steadman, (the patentee,) or any other person, for a period of six years. * * * Clearly, if any other person had chosen to tafee up the subject of the improvements where it was left off by Steadman, lie had a right thus to enter upon it, and, if successful, would be entitled to the merit of them as an original inventor.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Whittlesey v. Ames“"He is the first inventor and entitled to the patent who, being an original ííHcoverer, has first perfected and adapted the invention to actual use.””
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Christie v. Seybold
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.