Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is a big comic book fan, so naturally she had some fun in writing the opinion for the Kimble v. Marvel ruling.
The case resolves around paying royalties for a patented item after a patent has expired. Specifically, the item is one created by Stephen Kimble that shoots foam out of the toy's hand, just like Marvel's comic book superhero Spider-Man.
Kagan quoted the Spider-Man theme song and even quoted Uncle Ben in the opinion. Here are the best tidbits:
• "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)."
• "Patents endow their holders with certain superpowers, but only for a limited time."
• "To the contrary, the decision's close relation to a whole web of precedents means that reversing it could threaten others."
• "What we can decide, we can undecide. But stare decisis teaches that we should exercise that authority sparingly. Cf. S. Lee and S. Ditko, Amazing Fantasy No. 15: "SpiderMan," p. 13 (1962) ("[I]n this world, with great power there must also come — great responsibility")."
This isn't the first time Kagan has thought out of the box in a case, as Slate points out she once cited Dr. Suess in a dissent.
Check out the full opinion of Kimble v. Marvel below.
