On Monday, a federal jury ruled in Disney’s favor, swiftly dismissing a copyright lawsuit in which a writer alleged that the company took his ideas to create Moana. As reported by the Associated Press, a jury in Los Angeles reached its verdict in just 2.5 hours, concluding that the team behind Moana never had access to Bucky the Surfer Boy, a project developed by writer and animator Buck Woodall.
Since the jury found no evidence that Disney’s filmmakers had seen Woodall’s work, they did not need to analyze whether the two projects shared any creative similarities. Woodall claimed that around 2004, he provided his story outline to Jenny Marchick, who was then employed at Mandeville Films. At the time, Mandeville had a first-look agreement with Disney and maintained offices on the company’s Burbank studio lot. Woodall testified that he sent Marchick additional materials in the years that followed and was stunned by the resemblance when Moana was released in 2016—a film that went on to earn nearly $700 million worldwide.
However, Marchick stated during the trial that she never passed Woodall’s work along to Disney. The defense presented messages in which she informed Woodall that she could not assist him with his project and later stopped responding to his follow-ups.
In closing arguments, Woodall’s lawyer, Gustavo Lage, pointed out the narrative elements that Bucky the Surfer Boy and Moana share. He noted that both feature a young protagonist embarking on a journey in an outrigger canoe across Polynesian waters to rescue their homeland. The stories also incorporate Polynesian traditions, including ancestral spirits appearing as animal guides, and include specific details such as a meaningful necklace, navigation by the stars, a lava goddess, and a massive being concealed as an island.
Disney’s attorney, Moez Kaba, countered by asserting that aspects of Polynesian mythology and common literary tropes are “not copyrightable.” The company’s legal team also submitted extensive documentation detailing the development process of Moana, which Kaba argued proved that directors John Musker and Ron Clements created the film independently. “They had no idea about ‘Bucky,’” Kaba stated in his closing remarks. “They had never seen it, never heard of it.”
Woodall originally filed the lawsuit in 2020, seeking $100 million in damages. However, a court ruling in November 2024 significantly limited the case, reducing it to Disney’s home video distributor, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, due to a timing issue with the original complaint. This lawsuit is one of two filed by Woodall—he initiated another case in January 2025, focusing on Moana’s sequel, which was released in November 2024. That case remains ongoing.
