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Use Online Citators to Both Expand and Update your Research

KeyCite Signal indicators

Checking Citations in KeyCite

KeyCite, West’s powerful citation research service, helps you determine whether a case, statute, administrative decision, or regulation is good law. You can also use KeyCite to retrieve citing references to the document, including cases, administrative materials, secondary sources, and briefs and other court documents.

 

KeyCite Red Flag - Severe Negative Treatment A red flag indicates

 

  • In cases and administrative decisions, the case or administrative decision is no longer good law for at least one of the points of law it contains.
  • In statutes and regulations, the statute or regulation has been amended by a recent session law or rule, repealed, superseded, or held unconstitutional or preempted in whole or in part.
  • In patents, a court has held all or part of the patent invalid or invalid and not infringed; unenforceable due to the patentee's inequitable conduct; or has recognized the patent was held invalid or both invalid and not infringed in another case.
KeyCite Yellow Flag - Negative Treatment A yellow flag indicates that

 

  • In cases and administrative decisions, the case or administrative decision has some negative history but has not been reversed or overruled.
  • In statutes and regulations, the statute has been renumbered or transferred by a recent session law; that an uncodified session law or proposed legislation affecting the statute is available (statutes merely referenced, i.e., mentioned, are not marked with a yellow flag); that a notice or proposed rule affecting the regulation is available; that the statute or regulation was limited on constitutional or preemption grounds or its validity was otherwise called into doubt; or that a prior version of the statute or regulation received negative treatment from a court.
  • In patents, a court has held the patent was not infringed but did not rule on its validity; held all or part of the patent valid and not infringed; or recognized the patent was held not infringed in another case.
—Blue Stripees
—The case has been appealed to the U.S. Courts of Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court (excluding appeals originating from agencies)
 

KeyCite Cited With 

Find connections between cases that would traditionally be difficult to uncover. KeyCite Cited With allows you to quickly identify related cases that have a pattern of being cited together, even if neither cites the other.

KeyCite Overruled in Part 

Identify the specific point of law in a case that has been invalidated so that other valid points of law aren’t missed. Look for a red-striped flag to indicate that a case has been overruled in part.