Disney cleared of copyright infringement in Moana trial

Disney has been cleared of copyright infringement by a jury after being accused of stealing a story idea from screenwriter Buck Woodall back in 2011.

The suit was first filed in 2020, as Woodall believed the Disney movie Moana had copied his idea for a film called Bucky the Wave Warrior. Following a two-week trial, the jury unanimously found that Disney did not access the 2011 screenplay or earlier treatments.

Via Variety, a Disney spokesperson said: "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."

Disney did not have to address whether the two works are similar. Woodall argued that his work and Moana both followed teenagers setting out on a dangerous voyage to save their Polynesian island home.