A French children's author who claimed Disney's blockbuster film Finding Nemo copied a fish of his creation was convicted of fraud yesterday and ordered to pay €60,000 (£43,000) in damages and legal fees.

Franck Le Calvez had argued that the lovable title character in Finding Nemo was based on his smiling orange and white clown fish, Pierrot. He lost one legal battle last March when a court ruled that the two fish were similar - both have big smiles and sport three stripes down the side - but not similar enough to confuse people.

Mr Le Calvez returned to the fray with a claim for €1m damages. That was rejected yesterday. The court ruled that Nemo existed before Pierrot and Mr Le Calvez was aware of the Disney character when he created his own.

Mr Le Calvez was ordered to pay €38,000 in damages and interest to Disney and Pixar Animation, which own Nemo, and to the publisher Disney-Hachette Editions. He must also reimburse legal fees of €23,000 to the three companies and pay for the ruling to be printed in three publications of Disney's choice.