Disney Beats ‘Inside Out’ Copyright Infringement Claims

Disney’s Pixar film “Inside Out” doesn’t infringe the copyrights of a children’s emotional intelligence expert with her own characters representing five emotions, the Ninth Circuit said Monday.

Denise Daniels’ “Moodsters” weren’t eligible for copyright protection because they didn’t have consistent attributes—unlike such protectable characters as Godzilla or James Bond—that would make them recognizable to viewers in any medium.

Daniels said she first created the Moodsters in 2005, and pitched them to media companies including Pixar. Daniels said she spoke with “several different Disney employees” about the Moodsters, including “Inside Out” director Pete Docter.

“Inside Out” was released in 2015 to ...