A federal jury on Wednesday awarded "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" creator Celador International more than $269 million in damages, ruling that Disney and its family of TV companies failed to "perform the obligations of the rights agreement" of their contract that brought the game show to the U.S.
The jury awarded the British producer $260,238,024.00 for revenues from the network license fee, and $9,193,774.00 in revenues from merchandising. Jurors leaving the courtroom declined to speak with TheWrap.
Within minutes, Disney indicated its intention to appeal.
"We believe this verdict is fundamentally wrong and will aggressively seek to have it reversed," read the Disney statement.