Spectra-Physics, Inc. v. Coherent, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis
827 F.2d 1524 · 1987
Citation profile
29 federal appellate · 20 district · 2 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 157 later decisions — most recently March 2021 · most notably Phillips v. AWH Corp. (2005), Teleflex, Inc. v. Ficosa North America Corp. (2002)
29 federal appellate · 20 district · 2 state decisions
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 35 U.S.C. § 112 · 35 U.S.C. § 285
Relies on Jizmejian v. United States · Texas State Commission for the Blind v. United States · Sigmond v. United States · Marathon Oil Co. v. United States · Aetna Life Insurance v. Lavoie
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 157 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“there is no objective standard by which to judge the adequacy of a best mode disclosure,”
8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“from applying for patents while at the same time concealing from the public preferred embodiments of their inventions which they have in fact conceived.”
3 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.