KeyCite is the citation research service developed by West.

KeyCite for cases/patents/administrative decisions covers all cases/patents on Westlaw, including unpublished opinions and selected administrative decisions.

KeyCite for statutes/regulations covers United States Code Annotated (USCA), Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), selected state regulations and statutes from all 50 states.

KeyCite Alert monitors the status of your case or statute and automatically sends you updates at the frequency you specify when KeyCite information changes.

KeyCite provides the following information:

• Direct appellate history of a case, patent, selected administrative decisions and the ALR
• Negative citing references of a case and selected administrative decisions
• Citing references to cases, patents, selected administrative decisions, selected attorney general opinions, law reviews, statutes, the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), selected state regulations and the ALR
• Complete integration with the West Key Number System so you can track legal issues discussed in a case
• Identification of repealed or superseded state or federal statutes and the CFR
• Recent session laws and rules that amend or repeal statutes and the CFR
• Citing references to cases declaring state or federal statutes and the CFR unconstitutional in whole or in part
• Proposed legislation affecting United States Code Annotated (USCA) and statutes from all 50 states
• Citing references to uncodified session laws relating to state or federal statutes
• Credits and historical/statutory notes for a state or federal statutes and the CFR

Status flags warn you that history is available for your case and should be investigated.

• In cases and administrative decisions, a red flag warns that the case or administrative decision is no longer good law for at least one of the points of law it contains.
• In patents, a red flag in Direct History warns that the court holds that all or part of the cited patent is invalid; that the court holds that all or part of the cited patent is invalid, and that it is not infringed by the technology at issue; or that the court holds a patent to be unenforceable due the patentee's inequitable conduct before the patent board. A red flag in Negative Citing References warns that court recognizes that a court in another case has held that the cited patent is invalid.
• In statutes and regulations, a red flag warns that 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 cases and administrative decisions, a yellow flag warns that the case or administrative decision has some negative treatment, but has not been reversed or overruled.
• In patents, a yellow flag in Direct History warns that court rules that the technology at issue does not infringe the cited patent, but does not otherwise rule on the patent’s validity; or that the court upholds the validity of all or part of the cited patent, but rules that it is not infringed by the technology at issue. A yellow flag in Negative Citing References warns that the court recognizes that a court in another case has held that the cited patent has not been infringed.
• In statutes and regulations, a yellow flag warns that a 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 marked with a green C); that the regulation has been reinstated, corrected or confirmed; or 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 cases and administrative decisions, a blue H indicates that there is direct history but it is not known to be negative.
• In patents, a blue H indicates that the patent is:
  • Construed: The court determines the meaning of words or phrases in a cited patent.
  • Infringed: The court rules that the cited patent is infringed by the technology at issue.
  • Valid: The court upholds the validity of all or part of the cited patent.
  • Valid and Infringed: The court upholds the validity of all or part of the cited patent, and rules that it is infringed by the technology at issue.

• A green C indicates that the case/administrative decision has citing references but no direct history or negative citing references.  It also indicates that a statute/regulation has citing references, but no updating documents.

• Depth of treatment stars indicate how extensively a cited case or administrative decision has been discussed by the citing case.

• Quotation marks indicate that the citing case or administrative decision directly quotes the cited case.

To view the KeyCite result for a document, type its citation (e.g., 109 sct 2261, 17 usca 114, 40 cfr 7.35, 315 nlrb 1068) and click GO.