Did they have access to his model and ripper it out open and replicate the idea based on that?
If they did, it's copying, if they instead had tomita exp laminino his idea and showing his prototype and then they built from scratches without having access to the prototype i call that talking inspiration, and that doesn't i cringe any copy..
If tomita was sorride eh could have asked to ninty to sign a nda deal with some additional classe (can't use this concept for 5 years in individuali project even if no deal is met after the presentation)..
He didn't most likely..
I repeat..
A copy is a copy that wants to be equal to the original..
An imitation is the original plus other thing to obfuscate the original source
An inspiration is when you just glimpse and starting from that glimpse you produce your own
And in my case this is the third case, while of course without access to material evidente, this is just pure speculation
That's cute and all. But it's not what the law is.