Disney Defeats Writer’s Bid for a ‘Moana’ Copyright Trial Redo

Walt Disney Co. won’t face a new trial after it escaped claims that its 2016 hit animated movie “Moana” infringed the copyright of a writer’s script, a California federal judge ruled.

None of plaintiff Buck G. Woodall’s various arguments justified tossing the jury verdict finding Disney never accessed his script for “Bucky the Surfer Boy,” Judge Consuelo B. Marshall of the US District Court for the Central District of California ruled.

Woodall alleged faulty jury instructions, erroneous legal standards, and decisions regarding testimony at trial among other faults. But none undercut the result, the judge said Wednesday.

The ruling validates ...