US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit · JSON Structure

Cafc Opinion Structure

An opinion, order, or judgment published by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Type: object Properties: 10 Required: 4

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FederalCircuitOpinion is a JSON Structure definition published by US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, describing 10 properties, of which 4 are required. It conforms to the https://json-structure.org/meta/core/v0/# meta-schema.

Properties

case_number title opinion_type date_issued outcome judges authoring_judge subject_matter pdf_url is_precedential

Meta-schema: https://json-structure.org/meta/core/v0/#

JSON Structure

{
  "$schema": "https://json-structure.org/meta/core/v0/#",
  "$id": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-court-of-appeals-for-the-federal-circuit/refs/heads/main/json-structure/cafc-opinion-structure.json",
  "name": "FederalCircuitOpinion",
  "description": "An opinion, order, or judgment published by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "case_number": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Federal Circuit case number associated with this opinion.",
      "example": "2024-2296"
    },
    "title": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Case title for this opinion.",
      "example": "Acme Corp. v. Widget Technology, Inc."
    },
    "opinion_type": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Type of opinion or order published.",
      "enum": [
        "Precedential Opinion",
        "Non-Precedential Opinion",
        "Rule 36 Judgment",
        "Precedential Order",
        "Non-Precedential Order",
        "En Banc Opinion",
        "Errata"
      ]
    },
    "date_issued": {
      "type": "date",
      "description": "Date the opinion was issued."
    },
    "outcome": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Outcome of the appeal in this opinion.",
      "enum": [
        "Affirmed",
        "Reversed",
        "Vacated",
        "Remanded",
        "Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part",
        "Dismissed",
        "Vacated and Remanded"
      ]
    },
    "judges": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Federal Circuit judges on the panel or in the en banc court.",
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      },
      "example": [
        "Chen",
        "Prost",
        "Stoll"
      ]
    },
    "authoring_judge": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Judge who authored the majority opinion.",
      "example": "Chen"
    },
    "subject_matter": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Primary subject matter area of the opinion.",
      "enum": [
        "Patent Validity",
        "Patent Infringement",
        "Patent Claim Construction",
        "Patent Eligibility",
        "Trade Secrets",
        "International Trade",
        "Government Contracts",
        "Federal Employment",
        "Veterans Benefits",
        "Administrative Law",
        "Court of Federal Claims"
      ]
    },
    "pdf_url": {
      "type": "uri",
      "description": "URL to the full opinion PDF on cafc.uscourts.gov.",
      "example": "https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions-orders/24-2296.OPINION.3-6-2026_2657484.pdf"
    },
    "is_precedential": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "description": "Whether this opinion is designated as precedential."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "case_number",
    "title",
    "opinion_type",
    "date_issued"
  ]
}