In what the paper claimed was a humorous article, The Wall Street Journal compared the store with collapsed energy giant Enron in a story headlined "The Enron of Britain?" on April 5 2002.
The paper said the story was in response to a April Fool's press release, which claimed Harrods was to float. The press release said that anyone interested should contact Loof Lirpa, or April Fool spelt backwards.
However, Harrods boss Mohammed Al Fayed was not happy to be on the receiving end of the Journal's joke and sued the paper's publisher Dow Jones & Company for libel.
James Price QC, acting for Harrods, described the article as an "extraordinary attack" on the company.
A jury at London's High Court yesterday threw the libel claim out and Justice Eady ruled Harrods should pay all legal costs, which were put at £500,000 plus an additional £40,000 towards Dow Jones' legal costs.
Dow Jones' lawyer Gavin Millar said there had been no attempt to make "a real comparison between Harrods and Enron". He added that the article did not appear in European editions of the WSJ and there were only 10 subscribers to the US version of the newspaper in the UK.
Harrods argued that the story was still visible for all to see on the paper's website. However, the WSJ said its records showed the story had only been viewed 12 times in the last 18 months.
Next month, the BBC is to run a special 'Money Programme' investigation into Al Fayed called 'The Curious Case of the Disappearing Pharaoh'. It will be shown on Thursday March 4 at 9.50pm on BBC Two.
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