(UPI) -- Toymaker Hasbro will pay out nearly $73 million to the company behind the Super Soaker and some Nerf guns following the conclusion of a dispute about royalties.

Johnson Research and Development and founder Lonnie Johnson filed a claim against Hasbro back in February alleging that the company had underpaid royalties for the toys from 2007 to 2012.


The agreement settles a dispute that began in 2001 when Hasbro agreed to pay Johnson royalties for the N-Strike and Dart Tag brands of Nerf toys.

Law firms King & Spalding and A. Leigh Baier P.C. represented Johnson.

“In the arbitration we got everything we asked for,” said attorney Leigh Baier. “The arbitrator ruled totally in Lonnie’s favor.” Baier added that Johnson “is very pleased” with the settlement.

A nuclear engineer, Tuskegee University Ph.D. and former NASA scientist, Johnson founded his company and licensed the first Super Soaker in the same year, 1989. Two years later, the Super Soaker had already generated more than $200 million in retail sales.

Johnson owns more than 80 patents and has more than 20 pending.