A French court ruled on Friday that Nemo, the little clown fish
of Finding Nemo fame, was not based on a character in a book by
French author Franck Le Calvez. "A clown fish is a clown fish,"
argued a Disney lawyer, according to an Associated Press
report.
Having grossed more than $840 million worldwide, the
Oscar-winning computer animation about a father fish separated from
his son has been a tremendous success for its corporate parents,
Disney and Pixar (albeit they are now divorcing).
But Le Calvez argued that he had already come up with the story
of Pierrot Le Poisson Clown – also about a young fish separated
from his family – and had originally tried to sell his idea to film
studios before featuring the character in a book. He alleged that
Nemo was based on Pierrot.
Le Calvez asked a French court to block the sale of Finding Nemo
products in France until a forthcoming lawsuit against the film's
creators is heard in the US. But the French court disagreed.
According to Associated Press, the court reasoned that while
there are resemblances – three white stripes, orange colouring and
big smiles – people would be able to tell the two characters apart.
Nemo's smile displays teeth; Pierrot's toothless smile is more
"dolphinlike," for example.
Meanwhile, Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney announced at
the end of January that their lucrative partnership has ended amid
apparent disagreement over profit sharing. Pixar, founded by
Apple's Steve Jobs, has since been courted by other leading film
distributors.
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