Walt Disney loses $319mln award appeal in TV case

PanARMENIAN.Net - Walt Disney Co., the Burbank, Calif., entertainment provider, lost an appeal of a ruling that awarded $319 million to the producer of the television program "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

According to MarketWatch, the producer, Celador International Ltd. of the UK, had charged Disney and some of its subsidiaries with breach of their contract to share the profit from the show. In a July 2010 verdict, a jury awarded Celador $269.4 million and the trial court later awarded $50 million of interest.

The ruling affirming the verdict against Disney, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, was announced by Celador's attorneys, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP of Los Angeles.

A spokeswoman for Disney's ABC unit told the Los Angeles Times that the company was "extremely disappointed" with the ruling.