American Idol is now in its fourth series

The appeal court in Houston, Texas, dismissed the claim by Harry Keane without hearing the case.

He ordered Mr Keane to pay Fox $130,000 (�69,215) to cover its legal costs resulting from the case.

Mr Keane said he had first come up with the idea in 1994, and had sent it to the network four years later.

British import

But the appeal court ruled: "Because Keane sent out unsolicited letters, which detailed the specifics of his idea, to several different production companies and advertised his idea on the internet, the district court correctly found that he cannot demonstrate that he had a trade secret."

American Idol was first screened in 2002 following the success of Pop Idol in the UK.

British judge Simon Cowell was even hired for the US version because he had been such a success in the UK with his barbed criticisms of the singers.