Legal citations can be tricky to decipher as the information varies with the judicial body that produced the case you are reading.
Examples using cases involving Apple Inc.:
Elements in a SCOTUS source:
- Name of party v. Name of party
- (case number).
- Source.
- Retrieval statement (this is generally from the SCOTUSblog so a URL is used.)
Citation from SCOTUS:
Apple Inc. v. Pepper (17-204). SCOTUSblog. Retrieved at https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/apple-v-pepper
Elements in a Westlaw source:
- Name of party v. Name of party
- Volume and specific court reporter title,
- Edition
- The starting page number
- (year)
Citation from Westlaw:
Apple Inc. v. Pepper 139 S. Ct 1514, 203 L. Ed. 2d 802 (2019)
A District Court citation provides specific information on which court ruled on the case. Optional to include a URL if retrieved from the internet.
Name of party v. Name of party, Reporter Number (Court yyyy)
Schwartz v. Apple Inc. (In re Apple iPhone Antitrust Litig.), 846 F.3d 313 (9th Cir. 2017)
State Courts cite the same as district appellate courts in including specifics about which state. Note case numbering systems vary with each state.
Citation of the original Schwartz v. Apple Inc. case.