Disney has secured victory in a prolonged copyright lawsuit over Moana. Writer and animator Buck Woodall originally filed the case in 2020 with claims that Disney had stolen the idea for their 2016 film from his project titled Bucky the Surfer Boy. However, the court has since ruled in Disney’s favor, ending the lengthy legal dispute.
Disney did not steal the idea for Moana, rules jury
On Monday, a Los Angeles-based federal jury deliberated for around 2.5 hours before concluding that Disney did not have access to the details of Woodall’s project.
Woodall initially claimed that he had shared his plans for Bucky the Surfer Boy with a distant relative in 2004, who was working for Mandeville Films at the time, as per Entertainment Weekly. Notably, the production company was positioned on Disney’s lot at the time and also had a first-look deal with them. However, the woman in question denied sharing Woodall’s plans with Disney during the two-week trial.
During the closing arguments of the lawsuit, Woodall’s attorney, Gustavo Lage, noted several similarities between his client’s project, Bucky the Surfer Boy, and Disney’s Moana. Lage highlighted how Moana, similar to Bucky the Surfer Boy, takes place in a Polynesian backdrop and follows the magical journey of a teenager determined to save their homeland.
Nevertheless, Disney’s representative, Moez Kaba, quickly shut down these arguments by stating that such “staples of literature” were “not copyrightable.” Talking about whether Moana directors John Musker and Ron Clements knew about Woodall’s story, Kaba said, “They had no idea about ‘Bucky.’ They had never seen it, never heard of it.”
Buck Woodall initially filed the Moana copyright lawsuit against Disney in 2020, demanding $100 million in damages. Nevertheless, due to the four-year delay between Moana’s release and his complaint, the court limited his case to only include Disney’s home video distribution, Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Additionally, Woodall is actively pursuing another case against Disney over Moana 2.
