Disney has been completely cleared of plagiarism in a lawsuit that claimed their Polynesian princess film ‘Moana’ had copied Buck Woodwall’s story of a young surfer in Hawaii.
After just a short two and half hours of deliberation, the jury decided that the creators of Moana never had access to writer and animator Buck Woodall’s outlines and script for ‘Bucky the Surfer Boy’.
The six women and two men that made up the jury did not even consider the similarities between both films before coming to their decision.
Mr. Woodall had sent his work to a distant relative who worked for a different company on the Disney lot. However this relative testified to the jury that she did not share Mr. Woodall's work with anyone in Disney.
In closing arguments earlier on Monday, Mr Woodall’s attorney, Gustavo Lage, said that the circumstantial evidence showed the two works were undeniably inseparable.
"There was no Moana without Bucky," Mr Lage added.
"Obviously, we’re disappointed," Mr Lage said outside court on Monday after their loss. "We’re going to review our options and think about the best path forward."
Defence lawyer Moez Kaba said that the evidence showed overwhelmingly that Moana's creators John Musker and Ron Clements had no access or knowledge to ‘Bucky the Surfer Boy’ and therefore did not copy any of Mr. Woodalls work.
‘Moana’, originally released in 2016, was a box office hit for the film studio, earning nearly $700 million at the global box office. The film follows the daughter of a Polynesian chief as she ventures across the sea to save her island and connect with her ancestors. Its highly anticipated sequel ‘Moana 2’ was an even bigger success earning the studio $1 billion at the box office.
Mr. Woodall’s project, ‘Bucky the Surfer Boy’, followed the title character, on holidays in Hawaii with his parents and friends. Bucky embarks on a quest, time traveling to ancient islands to speak with demigods to save a sacred site from a greedy developer.
In 2004, Woodall gave the story outline of his film to the step sister of his brother's wife, Jenny Marchick, who worked for Mandeville films, a studio on the Disney lot. He continued to follow up with Marchick until she began ignoring his messages, telling Woodall that she could not assist him with his film.
Woodall testified that he was shocked to see Moana in 2016 as he believed it closely resembled his own story outline.
Woodall's 2020 lawsuit against the first ‘Moana’ came too late to claim any money from the blockbusters earnings. A lawsuit he filed earlier this year over Moana 2 was to be decided upon separately.
