Justice Elena Kagan Had Some Fun Writing About Spider-Man
Source: Mother Jones
On Monday morning, the Supreme Court didn't issue any of the highly anticipated rulings on the remaining marquee cases of the session (including the cases on same-sex marriage and Obamacare). But the first opinion issued by the court this morning carried an eye-catching name: Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, a.k.a. the Spider-Man case.
The case revolved around the narrowand let's be honest, snooze-inducingquestion of patent licensing fees. But the majority opinion written by Justice Elena Kagan is full of delightful zingers.
(...)
The problem was that Marvel never set an expiration date for when the royalties Kimble was owed would expire, with Kimble wishing to still collect after the patent had run out. "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)," Kagan wrote, referencing the Spider-Man theme song. That contradicted prior case law, and a lower court ruled that Kimble was no longer owed royalties. The Supreme Court agreed because, as Kagan writes, "patents endow their holders with certain superpowers, but only for a limited time."
In the end, Kagan wrote, the court had to stand by prior precedent. "In this world, with great power there must also comegreat responsibility," she wrote, letting Uncle Ben's famous words from Amazing Fantasy No. 15 close out her verdict.
Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/06/elena-kagan-spider-man-supreme-court-kimble-marvel
Romeo.lima333
(1,127 posts)Left coast liberal
(1,138 posts)Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)How come we haven't seen a billion knockoffs yet?
dhill926
(16,349 posts)Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)The patent in question was a toy web shooter that Marvel licensed in the 60s, but stopped paying for when the patent expired. The patent holder claimed he could collect royalties despite this event and the SCOTUS said, "Sorry, bub!"
Arkana
(24,347 posts)MsLeopard
(1,265 posts)Elena, you rock!
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)It's certainly appropriate for the "Cultural influence" section of the article on Spider-Man.
Anyone who wants to read the full opinion (eighteen pages), and/or the eight-page dissent by Alito, will find the texts here. (I skimmed the dissent but didn't notice any comic-book references.)
Aerows
(39,961 posts)She's very witty.
melm00se
(4,993 posts)100 (or more) years, I wonder if some law school student, after reviewing the case law and reading this decision, will "get it"?
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)Maybe Jameson was right!?