 In March 2001, a U.S. District Court jury in Birmingham, Michigan,  ruled that 20th Century Fox stole the script idea, "Jingle All the  Way", from Detroit High School biology teacher, Brian Webster. The  studio was ordered to pay $19 million, later reduced to $1.5  million. Webster submitted the script, then named "Could This Be  Christmas?", to the studio in 1994 and never received payment or  credit despite the film making $183 million. Fox appealed and the  verdict was reversed, since Websters script was submitted after the  studio had already purchased a treatment (summary/outline) of what  would become the films script. The court acknowledged that it is  not difficult to believe that two writers can independently create a  plot using similar inspiration/experience.