WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said the inventor of a popular Spider-Man web-shooting toy can't keep reeling in royalties after his patent ran out.
The justices ruled 6-3 Monday against Stephen Kimble in his long-running dispute with Marvel Entertainment over a Web Blaster toy that shoots foam string from a glove.
Kimble sold his patent on the toy to Marvel in 2001 and has earned more than $6 million in royalties under terms of a settlement agreement, but Marvel stopped making payments in 2010 once the patent expired.
Kimble had urged the high court to overrule a half-century-old case that said a licensing agreement cannot pay royalties once a patent ends.
But the justices declined. The court said it should be up to Congress to change patent laws.