Genting settles lawsuit with Fox, Disney

Thursday 25th of July 2019

Genting Malaysia said it has settled all legal proceedings with Fox Entertainment Group and its related companies and as a result will be permitted to use some Fox intellectual property in an outdoor theme park that is under development.

Genting said in November last year that it was suing Fox Entertainment Group, Twentieth Century Fox, Foxnext, Twenty First Century Fox and the Walt Disney company after the group pulled out of an accord to jointly develop a Fox-themed park at the Resorts World Genting property in the Genting Highlands.

The theme park was set to be one of the key attractions in a major revamp of the resort, known as the Genting Integrated Tourism Plan.

Fox and Disney launched a counter suit against the Malaysian operator. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Genting said that it and the defendants had agreed to dismiss all claims and counterclaims, which were filed with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

“As part of the settlement terms, the parties have entered into a Restated Memorandum of Agreement dated 25 July 2019 granting GENM a license to use certain Fox intellectual properties,” it said.

“GENM is currently updating its development and construction plans to complete the outdoor theme park utilising both Fox and non Fox intellectual properties. The outdoor theme park shall also be renamed.”

The group said the settlement is not expected to have any material impact on earnings for this year.

On Wednesday, Maybank predicted the theme park may open earlier than had been anticipated.

According to the brokerage, RWG has been putting out full-page job advertisements for its theme park division over the last two weeks.

As Genting had previously implied a lead time of six to nine months between hiring and opening of the theme park, the latest moves could signal a theme park opening for 20Q1, rather than the previously forecasted 21Q1 from Maybank.