Titanium Metals Corporation of America v. Donald W. Banner, Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks’s Empirical Analysis
778 F.2d 775 · 1985
Citation profile
33 federal appellate · 23 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 158 later decisions — most recently July 2025 · most notably Loctite Corporation v. Ultraseal Ltd (1985), Pitney Bowes, Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard Co. (1999)
33 federal appellate · 23 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.
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1295 · 35 U.S.C. § 102 · 35 U.S.C. § 103 · 35 U.S.C. § 145 · 35 U.S.C. § 154
Relies on South Corporation v. United States · Shatterproof Glass Corporation v. Libbey-Owens Ford Company · Raytheon Company v. Roper Corporation · Peter Gabor Kalman v. Kimberly-Clark Corporation
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 158 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Congress has not seen fit to permit the patenting of an old alloy, known to others through a printed publication, by one who has discovered its corrosion resistance or other useful properties, or has found out to what extent one can modify the composition of the alloy without losing such properties.”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“A person shall be entitled to a patent unless— (a) the invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before the invention thereof by the applicant for a patent, or (b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United States[.]”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“characterized by good corrosion resistance in hot brine environments.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.