Former NASA engineer Lonnie Johnson was recently paid $72.9 million worth of sales royalties from Hasbro, the toymaker company he first licensed the water gun toy that became the “Super Soaker” nearly 25 years ago.
“In the arbitration we got everything we asked for,” Johnson’s attorney Leigh Baier told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The arbitrator ruled totally in Lonnie’s favor.”
According to the newspaper, the agreement stemmed from a 2001 inventors dispute in which Hasbro had agreed to pay Johnson royalties for the sales of his products. Johnson originally licensed the Super Soaker to Larami Corporation, which was later acquired by Hasbro, and the toy reportedly generated more than $200 million in retail sales in its first two years on the market. As of 2013, total sales of the line are estimated at nearly $1 billion.
Source: Tim Sprinkle
