A Los Angeles federal jury has ruled against a man’s claims of copyright infringement over Disney’s animated film Moana.
The verdict was announced on Monday following a two-week trial in federal court.
An eight-member jury unanimously ruled that Disney did not have access to Buck Woodall’s 2011 screenplay Bucky The Wave Warrior or earlier treatments, AP News reported.
For those unversed, Woodall filed the lawsuit in 2020, alleging both projects of copyright infringement as they were centered around teenagers who defy their parents to embark on perilous journeys to save a Polynesian island.
He also cited other similarities, including celestial navigation, a tattooed demigod, and surviving a storm at sea.
His filing stated that he had pitched the story in 2004 to his sister-in-law’s stepsister, who was then an assistant at a live-action production company on the Disney lot.
The assistant later inquired whether Walt Disney Animation Studios would accept a submission but was informed that it would not.
Disney defended that Moana was independently developed years later and no evidence linked Buck’s work to the filmmakers.
“Bucky is white; Moana is Oceanian. Bucky is from the mainland U.S.; Moana is indigenous to the fictional island of Motunui,” the entertainment company’s legal team argued in a motion.
“Bucky lives in the modern day; Moana lives millennia in the past. Bucky is an ordinary teen; Moana is the future chief of her people. Bucky wants to learn to surf, while Moana wants to continue her people’s proud history as the greatest ocean voyagers the world has ever known.”
Buck’s lawyer has said he would consider his client’s options.
However, Buck also filed a separate lawsuit in January this year, alleging Moana 2 infringes on his work. The case is still pending.
