Judge Andrew Carter
Poland’s Telewizja Polska (TVP) operates the TVP Polonia and TVP Info channels. Under a 1994 contract with Canada’s Spanski Enterprises (SEI), and addenda in 1999 and 2002, it granted SEI rights to distribute those channels in North and South America for royalties. The 2002 Second Addenda specified New York law governed the contract. SEI’s 2007 breach action was settled under an Aug. 11, 2009, agreement releasing TVP’s counterclaims. SEI’s 2010 complaint alleged TVP’s breach of settlement by granting distribution rights to SEI’s competitor, and by permitting the competitor to air a series removed from SEI’s programming. Finding the settlement agreement and releases unambiguous, the court dismissed, as barred by settlement, TVP’s counterclaims accruing before Aug. 11, 2009. However, TVP’s counterclaim for breach of contract survived summary judgment subject to the court’s ruling that any claim for damages accruing before Aug. 11, 2009, was barred. Relevant post-Aug. 11, 2009, evidence indicating SEI’s alleged breach of the parties’ contract by failing to maximizeparticularly evidence concerning substantial deficiencies in SEI’s websitecreated a genuine issue of material fact, allowing TVP to survive summary judgment.
