MOSCOW, November 7 - RAPSI, Dmitry Shchitov. An appeals court has dismissed the defamation lawsuit filed by a major dairy plant against the MAXIM magazine, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) reported on Monday.

Founded over 50 years ago, the Ostankino Dairy Plant is a major dairy producer in Russia. It produces over 100 dairy products.

Maxim is an international magazine for men. It was established in the UK in 1995 and has been published in Russian since April 2002.

The court held for the appeal filed by the AFS publishing company, MAXIM's publisher, against the primary court's decision in favor of the Ostankino Dairy Plant.

Ostankino sued AFS' publisher and its editor-in-chief in relation to a cartoon published in MAXIM's December 2010 issue.

The primary court ordered the defendant to refute the cartoon in its next issue and fined the publisher 500,000 rubles ($16,200), while the claimant initially sought to win 1.85 million rubles in compensation.

The publisher's lawyer told the lower court that the cartoon is nothing more than a joke. Meanwhile, the claimant argued that the cartoon discredited Ostankino's reputation regardless of this fact.