John Kirby

Who is John Kirby?

John J. Kirby, Jr. is an American attorney employed by the law firm Latham & Watkins LLP, that has represented a number of notable corporations in legal disputes. One of his most well-known cases was Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd. In this case, he defended Nintendo against litigation from Universal City Studios in a dispute revolving around the video game Donkey Kong, which Universal claimed to be illegally based on King Kong. Kirby won the case, a landmark victory for Nintendo, by presenting evidence that Universal had previously won a legal battle against RKO that stated the story and characters of King Kong were in the public domain; thus, Universal had no legal right to claim ownership of the characters and basic scenario when the studio originally threatened legal action against Nintendo.

It is believed that the popular Nintendo character Kirby was named in his honor, however the original creator, Masahiro Sakurai, claims he doesn't remember how the name "Kirby" came to be. Kirby also has exclusive rights to use the name "Donkey Kong" for sailboats.