Disney win case over Finding Nemo

Disney.jpgThere are stories galore about people claiming to have created a character or story before Hollywood came along and stole their idea, and there are so many of them it’s hard to believe. In fact I don’t know of a single one that’s actually won a case – I’m sure you can put me right there if I’m wrong – until now that is.

According to the National Post one author who was attempting to sue Disney for taking his character for Finding Nemo, has lost. Not only that he’s been told to fork out to pay for damages to Disney:

Franck Le Calvez had argued that the lovable title character in Finding Nemo was based on his smiling orange-white clown fish named Pierrot…a young fish separated from his family…both have big smiles and sport three stripes down the side…

Well there are certainly similarities, but in the end the court decided that his book had been written after Finding Nemo had been announced and previews made available on the Internet. He tried to argue that he had registered the idea three years prior, but apparently that wasn’t good enough, he was…

…ordered to pay $49,600 US in damages and interest to Disney and Pixar Animation, which together own Nemo, and to France-based publisher Disney-Hachette Editions. He was also ordered to reimburse legal fees of $30,000 US to the three companies and to pay the cost of printing the ruling in three publications of Disney’s choice.

So here’s a lesson to you all. If you have an idea that you are going to develop and think it’s worth something, document it, get it witnessed by a notary and even think about sealing the envelope and leaving with your Solicitor. Oh, and don’t go on movie sites giving away your entire idea if you haven’t done any of this and you plan to develop it.

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7 thoughts on “Disney win case over Finding Nemo

  1. Prizzi’s Honour! Wow…I totally forgot about that movie.

    Yeah, I wasn’t sure about the Ellison story and what had come about. It sure has Eillison credited on the IMDB listing and as previously uncredited. I do stand corrected!

  2. “there are stories galore about people claiming to have created a character or story before Hollywood came along and stole their idea, and there are so many of them it’s hard to believe. In fact I don’t know of a single one that’s actually won a case…”

    Actually I know of one and it is a biggie…

    Harlan Ellison accused James Cameron of lifting the story of “The Terminator” from “The Soldier” (Great Outer Limits episode) and several other Ellison stories.

    Ellison won as was given credit on video and DVD releases as well as a piece of the profits in “The Terminator” franchise.

  3. I loved finding nemo. Pixar makes THE best films. All my favorite movies are by pixar. The Bug’s Life. Toy Story 1 and 2. The Monsters Inc. and The Incridibles. There was no way that the idea for finding nemo was stolen from anybody.

    FINDING NEMO ROCKSSSSSSSSSS!

  4. I understood what you meant Simone. Isn’t Mr and Mrs. Smith a remake of an old movie? And wasn’t there a movie where Jack Nickelson was a hit man married to a hit women. They ended up having to kill each other. There is nothing new. Because you can trace it to some other movie that was base on a book or play.
    Donna A.

  5. “not realising they have to end up actually ending up each other.”

    That should have read, “not realising they have to end up actually hurting each other”. Soweee! *laughd*

  6. Unless their ass is too big eh Donna? LOL

    I have got to say though that the first screenplay I was working on was exactly like “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”. Not sure if its the same plot of course, but they are both undercover agents, met and fell in love but never really divulged their true identities until they were called by their owm agencies, not realising they have to end up actually ending up each other. I would assume “Mr and Mrs Smith” is not straight action, but mine would be. I have never heard of the film until I saw its trailer and I thought, why the hell is this film so familiar, well it would be, it was the first screenplay I was trying to work on! Heck, I just threw the damn thing away and now trying to come up with another brilliant idea before anybody else comes up with it first!

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