Mr Deamer was unhappy with the "caricature" of Jack

A solicitor for Jack Deamer said on Monday that his client had settled for an undisclosed sum.

Mr Deamer began legal proceedings against Will and Grace writer Jason "Max" Mutchnick because he had allegedly promised to buy him a house and a car if he allowed the character of Jack to be based on him.

Jack is the flamboyantly gay friend of Will in the hit US sitcom.

The case was supposed to go to court in Los Angeles this week, after papers were filed in March 2001.

"The lawsuit was resolved by mutual agreement of the parties," Mr Deamer's solicitor Alan Harris said.

Mr Deamer and Mr Mutchnick were friends for 10 years before the writer created the 1998 pilot for the programme.

He told Mr Deamer there was a character called Jack based on him, the case papers said.

They added that Mr Deamer was "chagrined, embarrassed and devastated as he realised the 'TV Jack' character was a thinly veiled caricature of himself".

Verbal agreement

The character in the show was said to be "flamboyantly gay, constantly over the top, promiscuous and irresponsible".

Jack was also said to share many of Mr Deamer's interests and taste in clothes.

Mr Deamer's legal claim said Mr Mutchnick had asked for a pair of his shoes so that actor Sean Hays, who plays Jack, could wear them on the show.

Mr Deamer asked the writer to change the name of the character, but Mr Mutchnik refused.

But he said he would buy Mr Deamer a house and car worth $500,00 (�326,000) if the show was a success.

Mr Deamer said Mr Mutchnik had failed to keep to his verbal agreement, despite the show making between $100m (�65m) and becoming a worldwide hit.