NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
For a French author, the star of Walt Disney's "Finding Nemo" looked a little too familiar.
Franck Le Calvez has sued Walt Disney Co. for allegedly copying his 1995 creation of a Pierrot Le Poisson: a clown fish that also has white stripes, orange bulging eyes, lives in a sea anemone, lost a parent to predators and meets cleaning prawns, the Financial Times reported.
The author has asked a Paris court to withdraw "Finding Nemo" books and merchandise from French stores.
"Finding Nemo" was created by Pixar Animation Studios (PIXR: Research, Estimates) and was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It's earned more than $2.2 billion worldwide, according to the paper.
Le Calvez originally brought his creation to French production companies in the hopes of turning it into a film, but was turned down, the Financial Times reported.
He then registered a screenplay with the French Society of Authors in June 2002 and developed it into a book that November.
His lawyers claim that although "Finding Nemo" was completed before the book came out, one of the French film production companies must have passed the idea along, the paper reported.
Walt Disney (DIS: Research, Estimates) has denied infringing on the idea and stands by its creation, according to the Financial Times.
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