"Which cases does the Federal Circuit cite most frequently? I recently compiled data on the top ten most-cited precedents appearing in Federal Circuit opinions during 2025 (so far). Some of the standards remain frequent: Phillips v. AWH Corp. leads, followed by KSR v. Teleflex. Markman v. Westview also makes the list. What may surprise some readers is the prominence of procedural cases addressing threshold questions: whether arguments were preserved, what standard of review applies, and whether judicial review is even available."
"The Federal Circuit's en banc decision in Phillips remains the undisputed foundation of claim construction doctrine. Twenty years after its issuance, the case continues to lead citation counts because it establishes the framework courts apply in virtually every patent case. Phillips instructs that claim terms carry their ordinary and customary meaning as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, with that meaning informed primarily by the intrinsic record: i.e., the claims, the specification, and the prosecution history."
Phillips v. AWH Corp. remains the most-cited Federal Circuit precedent, followed by KSR v. Teleflex and Markman v. Westview. Procedural precedents addressing preservation of arguments, standards of review, and availability of judicial review appear frequently among top-cited authorities. Two post-AIA decisions concerning inter partes review judicial reviewability, Cuozzo v. Lee and Thryv v. Click-To-Call, rank among the top ten. The oldest frequently cited case is Consolidated Edison Co. v. NLRB (1938), which defines appellate review boundaries. The dataset was created by parsing all 2025 precedential patent decisions through December 15, 2025.
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