The 3rd bench of the Tokyo Supreme Court today dismissed a case brought up by Nintendo against Enterbrain, regarding alleged similarities between Nintendo's Fire Emblem series of strategy RPGs and Enterbrain's PlayStation One title Tear Ring Saga.

While judge Toyomi Ueda dismissed Nintendo's claim that Tear Ring Saga was an exact copy of Fire Emblem and hence would infringe on Nintendo's intellectual property, he still confirmed a previous ruling, forcing Enterbrain to pay a fee of 76 million yen ($704,748 US).

Already in November 2002 the court had dismissed a suit brought before it by Nintendo, but also acknowledged that the use of the word "Emblem" in the title of Enterbrain's strategy RPG was confusing. Nintendo immediately appealed the court's decision.

The original creator of Fire Emblem, Shozo Kaga left Intelligent Systems after the Super Famicom title Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 was released and formed developer Tirnanog, who is published by Enterbrain. Originally Enterbrain wanted to release its strategy RPG under the title Emblem Saga in February 2001. Eventually, the game was published under the title Tear Ring Saga.

The game's sequel, Tear Ring Saga Series: Berwick Saga for PlayStation 2 will be released in Japan on May 26th for 6,800 yen ($63.06 US).

• Nikkei Net