After a short deliberation, a Los Angeles federal court jury ruled today that the movie’s creators never had access to Buck Woodall’s outlines and script for ‘Bucky the Surfer Boy.’
According to , A Federal Court jury this afternoon took less than three hours to rule in favor of Disney in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against Walt Disney Animation Studios by writer and animator Buck Woodall claiming the studio’s 2016 animated hit was based on his outlines and script for the movie .By ruling against Woodall on his access claim, the trial had no need to continue on to determine if Moana was substantially similar to Woodall’s work.Around 2004, Woodall had shared his work with Jenny Marchick, the stepsister of his brother’s wife, who worked for Mandeville Films that at the time was located on the Disney lot.
He also shared with her additional materials in the years that followed.Defense lawyer Moez Kaba claimed that evidence, which included years of documented film development work, clearly showed writers and directors John Musker and Ron Clements had no idea about, nor heard of the Bucky property.Woodall also filed a separate lawsuit over last year’s feature, which is being overseen by the same judge.
It remains to be seen how today’s ruling impacts that case.Read more about the details of the case and ruling here.Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
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