HOLLYWOOD - A French children's author has been convicted of fraud after wrongly accusingWalt Disney of stealing his fish creation for the studio's blockbuster Finding Nemo.
Franck Le Calvez launched legal action against the Hollywood giant, insisting
Disney bosses had based the film's title character on his orange and white
clown fish Pierrot--without his consent.
However, a French court yesterday embarrassed Calvez by ruling
Disney had drawn up Nemo before Pierrot existed. The judge also speculated
Calvez may have stolen the idea from Disney.
He was ordered to pay $80,000 damages and costs.
Disney lawyer Magali Thorne--who insists Nemo first came to life in 2000--says the company is "very, very, very happy" with the outcome.
Le Calvez had already lost one case last March when a court concluded
the two fish were similar--both have big smiles and sport three stripes down
the side--but found their similarities were not enough to confuse people.
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