Julian Lowenfeld first took legal action against AiF and another paper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, in 1999 after they allegedly failed to pay him $434,000 in fees for winning a case against North American Russian-language weekly Kurier, which they accused of copyright violations.
A district court then ruled in Lowenfeld's favor, but the decision was never enforced. Lowenfeld then filed a suit with a higher court.
AiF and U.S.-based Media Express distributing its adapted U.S. version agreed Wednesday to settle the long-running dispute out of court and to pay Lowenfeld $100,000 as compensation.
New York Supreme Court Wednesday ruled to withdraw Lowenfeld's claims against popular Russian while leaving in place claims against Komsomolskaya Pravda.
"We had an opportunity... to prove our case and even pay nothing," an AiF source said adding that court expenses could cost the newspaper more than the agreed compensation.
AiF deputy general director Andrei Mironov said the Russian paper would pay a half of this sum and its American partner would pay the other half.
"We value our reputation and the decision to settle the dispute out of court is aimed to maintain the newspaper's reputation and stop any prosecution of the paper which could be launched by Lowenfeld," he said.
