Courtesy of Disney

Disney has won a long-running copyright lawsuit against ”Moana”. In 2020, Buck Woodall, the writer and animator, filed a lawsuit alleging that Disney had plagiarized the idea for their 2016 movie from his project called ”Bucky the Surfer Boy”, demanding $100 million in damages. However, the court has ruled in Disney’s favor, putting an end to the lengthy legal dispute, according to the jury, Disney did not steal the concept for ”Moana”.

A Los Angeles-based federal jury decided on Monday to clear Disney of an infringement lawsuit brought by a screenwriter in a copyright case involving ”Moana”, 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, according to Entertainment Weekly. It’s worth noting that the production company was on Disney’s lot at that time and had a first-look deal with Disney.

Gustavo Lage, Woodall’s attorney, made a point during the closing arguments of the lawsuit that “Bucky the Surfer Boy“, his client’s project, had some resemblance to Disney’s “Moana“, according to the League, “Moana“, similar to “Bucky the Surfer Boy“, is set in a Polynesian setting and chronicles the magical journey of a teenage girl determined to save their homeland.

But Moez Kaba, who represents Disney, quickly rejected these arguments by stating that “staples of literature” are not copyrightable. Kaba also stated that Moana’s directors John Musker and Ron Clements were unaware of Woodall’s story. Kaba said that they had never seen or heard of ‘Bucky’.

Buck Woodall first brought a copyright lawsuit against Disney in 2020, but because there was a 4-year delay between the release of “Moana” and his complaint, the court restricted him to just suing Disney for its home video distribution, Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Woodall is actively pursuing a second lawsuit against Disney for “Moana 2“.