Current Events > Former Nintendo lawyer (and Kirby's namesake) John Kirby has passed away at 79.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://kotaku.com/john-kirby-former-nintendo-lawyer-and-kirbys-namesake-1838778467

This week, the man after whom Nintendos iconic pink blob Kirby was named passed away. John Kirby, who died on October 2 from a form of blood cancer, represented Nintendo in the companys 1984 case about whether Donkey Kong violated Universal Studios copyright for King Kong. John Kirby helped Nintendo win that case, which is why Donkey Kong has kept its name and plot throughout its lifetime as a beloved Nintendo franchise. Its also why Kirby was the name of a hero with a beloved franchise of his own.

According to the New York Times obituary, John Kirby worked with Nintendo for many years, and in that time, he also received a sailboat called Donkey Kong for winning the critical case. Before any of that, though, Kirby spent his early career serving as the special assistant to the head of the U.S. Department of Justices Civil Rights Division in the 1960s, during the height of the civil rights movement.

Kirbys work in civil rights law began with an internship at the Department of Justice, the obituary explains, where he gathered voting records throughout the South that demonstrated evidence of wide-spread discrimination against African-Americans. His discovery of methods such as literacy tests specifically designed to exclude African-Americans from voting helped form the basis of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While at the Civil Rights Division, he also found himself personally escorting African- American children into segregated schools, surrounded by federal marshals.

Thats an impressive namesake. The Times obituary invites the public to make contributions in his name to Kirby Scholarship Fund at Fordham University, as well as the Merton College Charitable Corporation and The Joseph F. Cullman, Jr. Institute for Patient Experience at Mount Sinai Hospital.

He was an inspiration to not just Nintendo and the pink puffball named after him, but to an entire country of people who battled for equal rights.
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Rip

I loved his story and his victory in court was not only poetic but a huge win for public domain as well.

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Oh, fun fact. For winning the case Nintendo bought him a boat named Donkey Kong and gave him an exclusive license to name boats Donkey Kong.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

Oh, fun fact. For winning the case Nintendo bought him a boat named Donkey Kong and gave him an exclusive license to name boats Donkey Kong.

The boat itself was mentioned in the article, but the exclusive rights to name boats by that name wasn't. That's really interesting.
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I always found it funny how they made Kirby to be a biological vacuum.
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amzpeng posted...

I always found it funny how they made Kirby to be a biological vacuum.

I'm pretty sure sakurai is just a voraphile

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Rip
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When I was younger, I always thought he was named after the vacuum company
>__>

Fun Fact: Kirby was not always called Kirby. When created he was given the name Popopo, and Dream Land was called Pupupu Land
This naming convention can be found with other such characters as Lololo & Lalala, as well as good ol' King Dedede
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HylianFox posted...

When I was younger, I always thought he was named after the vacuum company
>__>

I thought that until TODAY (I'm sure a lot of people did)
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amzpeng posted...

HylianFox posted...

When I was younger, I always thought he was named after the vacuum company
>__>

I thought that until TODAY (I'm sure a lot of people did)

Speaking of lawsuits, I wonder if the Kirby vacuum company ever considered suing Nintendo over that
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also somewhat coincidentally, I wore one of my Kirby shirts today and the cashier lady at Aldi's said she liked it
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HylianFox posted...

also somewhat coincidentally, I wore one of my Kirby shirts today and the cashier lady at Aldi's said she liked it

Score, that's the furthest HylianFox has gotten with a woman in 6 months.
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AFrench2 posted...

Score, that's the furthest HylianFox has gotten with a woman in 6 months.

I guess? Being gay I don't really keep track of that sort of thing.

Or is that the point
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Legendary man. Not many people can have a name as badass as Kirby. RIP
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