Narell v. Freeman’s Empirical Analysis
872 F.2d 907 · 1989
Citation profile
43 federal appellate · 10 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 101 later decisions — most recently February 2022 · most notably Jacobsen v. Deseret Book Co. (2002), Brown Bag Software v. Symantec Corp. (1992)
43 federal appellate · 10 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 17 U.S.C. § 107 (§ 101 of the Copyright Act of 1976)
Relies on Vandygriff v. Phillips · Scharffe v. Perkins · Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises · Sony Corporation of America v. Universal City Studios Inc · Castor v. United States
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 101 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Although summary judgment is not highly favored on questions of substantial similarity in copyright cases, summary judgment is appropriate if the court can conclude, after viewing the evidence and drawing inferences in a manner most favorable to the non-moving party, that no reasonable juror could find substantial similarity of ideas and expression.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“specific similarities between the plot, theme, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, characters, and sequence of events.... 'the actual concrete elements that make up the total sequence of events and the relationships between the major characters.'”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Because in most copyright cases direct evidence of copying is not available, a plaintiff may establish copying by showing that the infringer had access to the work and that the two works are substantially similar.”
2 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.