A federal jury has ruled in Disney’s favor in a long-running copyright lawsuit, rejecting claims that the company stole ideas for its hit 2016 animated film Moana.
The verdict, delivered Monday in a Los Angeles courtroom, came after just 2.5 hours of deliberation. The lawsuit was filed by writer and animator Buck Woodall, who alleged that Disney’s Moana bore striking similarities to his unpublished work, Bucky the Surfer Boy. However, the jury concluded that Moana's creators never had access to Woodall’s script or outlines, effectively dismissing his claims.
Woodall originally filed the lawsuit in 2020, seeking $100 million in damages. He claimed that in 2004, he shared his story outline with Jenny Marchick, an executive at Mandeville Films, which had a first-look deal with Disney at the time. Over the years, he sent additional materials but said he never received a response. When Moana premiered in 2016, Woodall believed the film shared significant elements with his work, including:
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A teenager on a voyage across Polynesian waters to save their homeland
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Polynesian spiritual ancestors appearing as animal guides
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A symbolic necklace, navigation by stars, a lava goddess, and an island disguised as a giant creature
Despite these similarities, Marchick testified that she never shared Bucky the Surfer Boy with Disney, and defense attorneys presented messages in which she told Woodall she couldn’t help with his project and eventually stopped responding.
Disney’s legal team argued that the elements in question—such as Polynesian mythology and common literary tropes—were not copyrightable. They also presented thousands of pages of development documents to demonstrate that Moana's creation was independent of Woodall’s work.
“They had no idea about Bucky,” Disney attorney Moez Kaba said, referring to Moana directors John Musker and Ron Clements. “They had never seen it, never heard of it.”
Ultimately, the jury ruled in Disney’s favor, preventing the case from proceeding to an evaluation of creative similarities between the works.
Following the verdict, Woodall’s attorney, Gustavo Lage, expressed disappointment and said they were reviewing legal options. “Our position, at the moment, is to reflect on the verdict, the evidence, and trial rulings to determine what legal remedies may be available to our client,” Lage told Entertainment Weekly.
While this case has been dismissed, Woodall has a second lawsuit pending against Disney, filed in January. That case focuses on Moana 2, the upcoming sequel set for release in November 2024.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
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