Jury Knows How Far They'll Go, Finds For Disney in "Moana" Lawsuit
The Disney movie "Moana" has a running time of one hour and 43 minutes. On March 10, 2025, it took a Los Angeles jury only about 45 minutes longer to decide against a writer suing for $100 million in damages for alleged copyright violations.
Buck Woodall claimed that the ideas behind "Moana" were stolen. While the trial spent days trying to connect the dots between the two storylines, the jury of eight found that the plaintiff couldn't prove the Disney writers had seen or even heard of his project.
Smooth Sailing or Piracy?
In the lawsuit, writer and animator Buck Woodall claimed that he came up with an outline for "Bucky the Surfer Boy" in 2003, a story about a Hawaiian surfer experiencing a fantasy adventure based on Polynesian mythos. After updating it in 2008 and producing a script in 2011, Woodall turned to a relative for help — a distant relative.
Jenny Marchick, the stepsister of his brother's wife, worked for a company on the Disney lot. Woodall sent her the outline in 2004 and the updates as he implored her for assistance.
When viewing "Moana" when it was released in 2016, Woodall claims he saw "so many" of his ideas from "Bucky" in the film. Both included teenaged protagonists and the involvement of deities from the Polynesian pantheon. He filed a lawsuit in 2020 demanding a percentage of the ticket sales, but a court dismissed it for being too late.
During the trial, Marchick testified that she never showed any of the "Bucky" material to anyone at Disney and stopped responding to Woodall's entreaties after a while. After working for Disney competitors Fox and Sony, Marchick currently is head of features development at DreamWorks Animation.
Woodall also submitted the "Bucky" script to Disney, but couldn't prove that anyone associated with the "Moana" production ever encountered it.
They Had the Receipts
John Musker and Ron Clements, the directors and writers of "Moana," carry an established history of success creating animated films for Disney. They're responsible for massive hits such as "The Little Mermaid," "Hercules," "The Princess and the Frog," and "Aladdin." In addition to a past showing a proclivity to research cultural mythology for their material, they also had "thousands of pages" of showing the development of "Moana."
"Moana" follows the adventure of a young Polynesian woman who sets off on a quest to stop a blight that strikes her island. After freeing a demigod who becomes a reluctant ally, she manages to help a goddess and accomplishes her task.
Defense lawyers noted that the film was set in easily-accessible Polynesian mythos and not a world created by Woodall. "Moana" earned over $700 million at the box office, an amount eclipsed by "Moana 2." Musker and Clemens did not write or direct the second movie.
Nice Work if You Can Get It
While the trial lasted two weeks, jurors did get to watch "Moana" as part of their courtroom experience. And like any good Hollywood story, there's a sequel in the works. Woodall filed a copyright infringement suit on January 25, 2025, against "Moana 2." He's seeking either 2.5% of the gross or $10 billion, whichever is more. At least based on this verdict, Woodall might want to reach out to a demi-god of his own for help.
Related Resources
- Statutes of Limitations by State (FindLaw's State Laws)
- Copyright Enforcement FAQ (FindLaw's Intellectual Property Law)
- Copyright Law (FindLaw's Learn About the Law)
