The Walt Disney Company lost a $319 million appeal with the creators of the game show "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?" over the profits from the T.V. show.
Disney lost the appeal after a jury decided the company hid the show's profits from its creators, London-based Celador International, according to the Associated Press. ABC, Buena Vista Television and Valleycrest Productions, after those companies (referred to as "the Disney affiliates" in the ruling) sought to appeal an earlier order denying their motion for judgment as a matter of law, and for a new trial in the matter.
"I am pleased that justice has been done," Celador Chairman Paul Smith said in a statement.
In 2010, "Millionaire" creators Celador International, Inc. received a judgment of just over $269 million, and the company later received another $50 million after Judge Virginia Phillips awarded prejudgment interest to the British company.
According to the report, Disney lost a bid to overturn the jury's verdict in December 2010, but argued in its motion in the 9th Circuit that the U.S. District Court in Central California had "committed evidentiary, instructional and other errors."
