Super Soaker inventor awarded $72.9 million in royalties
After a lengthy court battle, the rightful creator of the “Super Soaker” toy has been awarded $72.9 million.
Johnson Research and Development Co. and founder Lonnie Johnson were in a royalty dispute with Hasbro toy company since February over royalties accrued for the Nerf line toys between 2007 and 2012.
The arbitration agreement resolves a 2001 inventors dispute in which Hasbro agreed to pay Johnson royalties for products covered by his Nerf line of toys, specifically the N-Strike and Dart Tag brands, King & Spalding attorney Ben Easterlin said.
In a separate breach of contract suit filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta in February, Johnson accuses Hasbro of violating a 1996 agreement to pay him Super Soaker royalties of 2 percent for “three-dimensional products” based on the appearance of the toy and 1 percent for “two-dimensional visual representations.”
Read more at The Chicago Defender
The nuclear engineer founded his company in 1989. Johnson holds more than 80 patents, with over 20 pending. Super Soaker sales have reached closed to $1 billion.
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