Disney Didn’t Copy ‘Moana’ From Man’s Story of Surfer Boy, Jury Says

The character Moana, voiced by Auli'i Cravalho, in a scene from "Moana 2." Disney via AP

LOS ANGELES—A jury on Monday quickly and completely rejected a man’s claim that Disney’s “Moana” was stolen from his story of a young surfer in Hawaii.

The Los Angeles federal jury deliberated for only about 2 ½ hours before deciding that the creators of “Moana” never had access to writer and animator Buck Woodall’s outlines and script for “Bucky the Surfer Boy.”