Simon and Simon Settle

Dueling music moguls Simon Cowell and Simon Fuller reach settlement in copyright infringement case

By Sarah Hall Nov 28, 2005 11:00 PMTags

The battle of the Simons has been settled.

Dueling pop moguls Simon Cowell and Simon Fuller have reached an out-of-court settlement in their $170 million legal dispute.

Details of the settlement were not made public.

Fuller filed the copyright-infringement suit against Cowell in September 2004, accusing the acid-tongued Idol judge of ripping off the idea for his hugely successful U.K. series, The X Factor, from American Idol, and its British predecessor, Pop Idol, both of which were created by Fuller's production company, 19 TV.

Cowell called Fuller's allegations "utterly ridiculous" and claimed that The X Factor followed a wholly different format than the Idol talent quests.

Now that the twosome have settled the matter to their satisfaction, they reportedly plan to team up to work together on new projects.

"We're delighted with the outcome," Cowell told London's Daily Mirror. "People think we hate each other but we don't, we're good friends."

As the kick-off date for the trial approached with no settlement in sight last week, some feared that Cowell would not be returning to his Idol gig as a result of the lawsuit, though Fox insisted that the caustic wit would be back for more judging.

"Simon is 100 percent onboard American Idol this season," a network rep said. "He has already participated in the audition process and will be part of the show for the entire season."

Cowell was reportedly in the process of renegotiating his contract to secure a pay hike and the right to sign the next winner of American Idol to his record label.

His Idol salary is currently estimated at $8 million per season.

The fifth season of the talent competition is due to kick off in January. Fox execs have reportedly been considering moving the show from its current Tuesday-Wednesday slots to a Wednesday-Thursday schedule in a ploy to rake in even more viewers.

Last season, the Tuesday edition of Idol was television's most watched show, with an average audience of 27.3 million tuning in each week.