ABC has filed its response to Prospect Park's multimillion-dollar breach of contract lawsuit. While the network did not comment on each of the charges brought in the lawsuit, the network did make one thing clear: it wants Prospect Park to be held to the original terms of their licensing deal.
In its six-page filing, ABC argues that Prospect Park is "asking the Court to rewrite the contract to unsettle something that parties have already firmly determined -- the term of the License."
In April 2013, Prospect Park filed a lawsuit against ABC, claiming that the network interfered with its efforts to revive All My Children and One Life to Live on the Internet. The dispute stemmed from, among other things, several One Life to Live characters that Prospect Park had licensed back to ABC for use on General Hospital.
Prospect Park alleged that ABC overstepped its authority, killing off characters without permission, and subsequently convinced the actors of the borrowed characters not to be part of Prospect Park's then-unlaunched productions of AMC and OLTL.
Prospect Park amended its lawsuit in November 2013, shortly after the company decided to suspend production of both AMC and OLTL. In their suit, Prospect Park seeks more than $95 million in damages for breach of contract and promissory fraud.
In addition to monetary damages, Prospect Park is also seeking to have its licensing agreement extended without having to pay a licensing fee because of the alleged breach on ABC's part.
Per the licensing agreement, ABC granted Prospect Park the rights to All My Children and One Life to Live for 15 seasons unless Prospect Park ceased production of the series for 18 consecutive months. In that instance, the rights would revert back to ABC. Production of All My Children and One Life to Live ceased last summer and the most recent episodes aired in September 2013. That would give Prospect Park until early 2015 to resume production.
ABC also asserts that Prospect Park did not voice any concerns about ABC's use of the characters it had licensed until more than a year after the fact when Prospect Park was "still struggling financially."
Prospect Park is expected to file a response within the month.
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