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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