Top Defense Verdicts — Hollywood Foreign Press Association v. Red Zone Capital Partners II, L.P. et al

The fate of the Golden Globes had come down to 12 words in a decade-old contract amendment. How a judge interpreted the words would determine whether the nonprofit organization that launched the show in 1944 would be free to help itself to a more lucrative deal by moving the show to a network other than NBC.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, owner of the Golden Globe Awards, and Dick Clark Productions Inc., the show's longtime producer, had been at odds since negotiations to extend their partnership failed in 2010. The press association was upset when DCP extended the show's license to NBC before renegotiating its soon-to-expire agreement with the association and sued DCP, claiming the production company infringed the Golden Globes copyright and falsely declared itself a co-owner of the show.

After a highly publicized two-week bench trial, Judge A. Howard Matz sided with DCP in an 89-page opinion.

The verdict offered crucial guidance on contractual interpretation and brought predictability back to the deal between the parties.

Defense attorneys pushed to bifurcate the case, recognizing that the contract interpretation question could determine the outcome. The court agreed, enabling defendants to focus on the language of the contract without dealing with the press association's other claims.

However, because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association immediately appealed the verdict, the second half of the case remains on hold and undecided, pending the appeal.

"This case is far from over," said Dan Petrocelli of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, lawyer for the press association.

Lawyers for Dick Clark Productions declined to comment.

- JEAN YUNG

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