WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled against the inventor of a Spider-Man toy who claimed a half-century-old legal precedent prevented him from earning deserved royalties.
On a 6-3 vote, the court handed a victory to Walt Disney Co's Marvel Entertainment LLC in its legal fight with Stephen Kimble and an associate, Robert Grabb .
Kimble had asked the court to overrule the precedent, which said royalty payments generally do not need to be made after a patent has expired as is the case with the Spider-Man Web Blaster toy. Marvel, which has paid Kimble more than $6 million over the years to use the patent in the toy, had argued that the precedent set in a 1964 Supreme Court ruling should stand.
Kimble obtained a patent for his web-shooting glove in 1991, later assigning it to Marvel in return for a royalty fee.
After Kimble in 2008 claimed breach of contract, Marvel argued that the 1964 Supreme Court ruling in the case Brulotte v. Thys Co involving a harvesting machine meant it would not be required to pay the royalties once the patent expired in 2010.
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A federal judge in Arizona agreed, and in 2013, the San Francisco -based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision, saying it was bound by the Supreme Court precedent.
The case is Kimble v. Marvel, U.S. Supreme Court , No. 13-720.
