public domain
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 376 U.S. 225 - Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Stiffel Co. · 1964Most cited · 1,719 citing opinions
An unpatentable article, like an article on which the patent has expired, is in the public domain and may be made and sold by whoever chooses to do so.
How often courts cite the case defining “public domain”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “public domain” — 1,704 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.