Supreme Court rules for Marvel in dispute over Spider-Man toy

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the inventor of Spider-Man toy cannot collect royalties once his patent expires, affirming a controversial precedent that has been widely criticized.

The 6-3 decision rejected a lawsuit from Stephen Kimble, who sold a patent to Marvel Entertainment for a wristband that sprays “web” like the superhero. The terms of the deal with Marvel included a 3 percent royalty for future sales, but the agreement had no expiration date.

{mosads}Marvel argued it should no longer have to pay Kimble royalties because his 20-year old patent, awarded in 1990, has expired. The company cited the precedent of Brulotte v. Thys Co., a high court decision from five decades ago.

A six-justice coalition of Justices Elena Kagan, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor sided with Marvel in the case. Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissented.

Since the case centers on the popular superhero, Kagan had a bit of fun with the court’s opinion.

“The parties set no end date for royalties, apparently contemplating that they would continue for as long as kids want to imitate Spider-Man (by doing whatever a spider can),” she said, mimicking the famous theme song for the cartoon.

“Patents endow their holders with certain superpowers, but only for a limited time.”

Kimble’s lawyers had argued that the current patent precedent that allow companies to stop paying royalties once a patent expires “harms the American economy and suppresses innovation.”

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center filed a brief to the court supporting Kimble and a change in the current patent standard. It argued that the current landscape “prevents universities and small businesses (as well as large companies) from devising contractual arrangements that maximize the potential benefit of the universities’ technological advancements.”

Alito’s dissent slammed the court’s use of stare decisis, a court precedent that says that justices shouldn’t overturn previous rulings unless there is a clear need. He criticized the Brulotte decision as based on “debunked” economic theory and argued that “stare decisis does not require us to retain this baseless and damaging precedent.”

In her majority opinion, Kagan defended the ruling in Brulotte v. Thys Co. as established precedent, however flawed. She ended her opinion by sharing a famous quote from the Spider-Man series.

“With great power there must also come — great responsibility.”

— This story was updated at 11:55 a.m.