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Disney won a copyright lawsuit as a jury dismissed claims by Buck Woodall that Moana borrowed ideas from his project, Bucky the Surfer Boy. No evidence showed Disney accessed his work. Disney scored a big legal win on Monday after a federal jury swiftly dismissed a copyright lawsuit claiming the studio borrowed ideas for Moana.
The case, brought by writer and animator Buck Woodall, alleged that Disney took inspiration from his project, Bucky the Surfer Boy. However, according to the Associated Press, the Los Angeles jury took just 2.5 hours to rule in Disney’s favour, finding no evidence that the Moana team ever had access to Woodall’s work.
Since the jury found no proof that Disney’s filmmakers had ever come across Woodall’s work, they didn’t need to consider whether Moana and Bucky the Surfer Boy had any creative similarities. Woodall claimed that in 2004, he shared his story outline with Jenny Marchick, who was then working at Mandeville Films. At the time, Mandeville had a first-look deal with Disney and operated from the company’s Burbank studio lot.
According to Woodall, he continued sending Marchick additional materials over the years and was shocked when Moana hit theaters in 2016—especially since the film, which went on to gross nearly $700 million worldwide, felt eerily similar to his own concept. During the trial, Marchick testified that she never shared Woodall’s work with Disney. The defense also presented messages showing that she had informed Woodall she couldn’t help with his project and eventually stopped responding to his follow-ups.
In his closing arguments, Woodall’s attorney, Gustavo Lage, highlighted the similarities between Bucky the Surfer Boy and Moana. He pointed out that both stories follow a young protagonist setting out on a journey in an outrigger canoe across Polynesian waters to save their homeland. He also noted shared elements rooted in Polynesian culture, such as ancestral spirits taking the form of animal guides, as well as specific details like a significant necklace, celestial navigation, a lava goddess, and a colossal being disguised as an island.
Disney’s attorney, Moez Kaba, pushed back by arguing that elements of Polynesian mythology and familiar storytelling tropes cannot be copyrighted. He also presented extensive records outlining Moana’s development, which he said demonstrated that directors John Musker and Ron Clements conceived 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 first filed the lawsuit in 2020, seeking $100 million in damages. However, a court ruling in November 2024 significantly narrowed the case, leaving only Disney’s home video distributor, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, as the defendant due to a timing issue with the original complaint.
This lawsuit is one of two Woodall has pursued—he filed another in January 2025, this time targeting Moana’s sequel, which was released in November 2024. That case is still ongoing..
