In the latest and big news for Disney, the studio had recently won a trial that had them dragged under the allegations of copyright infringement. The allegation came following the release of their 2016 animated outing, Moana. A screenwriter had filed the suit back in 2020.
Per a recent report by Variety, the plaintiff’s name is Buck Woodall, who filed the lawsuit four years after the animated movie was released. In his lawsuit, Buck Woodall stated that the story of a teenage girl on an adventure with a demigod was based on his work, which is called Bucky the Wave Warrior.
However, the highly acclaimed studio has now won the case, two weeks after the trial began in federal court in Los Angeles. The decision was made by an eight-member jury, who unanimously found that Disney did not have access to the 2011 screenplay. Per the decision of the jury, the studios also did not have an earlier treatment of the same screenplay.
The final ruling by the jury came after a serious three-hour deliberation.
Following the results, a Disney spokesperson stated, “We are incredibly proud of the collective work that went into the making of ‘Moana’ and are pleased that the jury found it had nothing to do with plaintiff’s works.”
As the jurors had already mentioned that the animation studio did not have any access to the script of Bucky the Wave Warrior, they also did not have to answer whether the two works happened to be similar.
Talking about the plaintiff, Bucky Woodall is a screenwriter based out in New Mexico. The writer had alleged that Moana and his script had several similarities, arguing that both the stories revolve around teenagers, who go on a dangerous voyage, defying the order of their parents. They even save a Polynesian island, while also being on an adventure with a demigod–played by Dwayne Johnson–who has tattoos.
Other similarities between the two stories include traveling through a storm and navigating with the help of the stars.
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