Lawsuit Alleges Disney Copied Other Music in Creating ‘Frozen II’ Song

Frozen II has a number of hit songs, but one is now the subject of a lawsuit in federal court.

Over the past few years, Disney has had to face various legal issues including the dissolution of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a lawsuit regarding the Muppet Babies, and a lawsuit related to a Toy Story 4 character. Now, Frozen II has been added to that list.

According to Reuters, a lawsuit has been filed against Disney which alleges that Disney and Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (the songwriters behind the hit songs from Frozen and Frozen II) copied another individual’s music for one song in Frozen II. 

What song specifically? Well, the lawsuit alleges that the songwriters copied several aspects from the Plaintiff’s song “That Girl” to create the hit song “Some Things Never Change” in Frozen II.

The Plaintiff is Daniel Grigson and the lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Federal Court recently. Grigson alleges that he runs an “educational nonprofit” that is called the Sprout Experience and has a “public history of writing original music for and with children.”

Grigson’s band, Neccos for Breakfast, has a song called “That Girl” which was released in 1999. The lawsuit alleges that “That Girl” has been streamed over 100,000 on Trusonic (a business-music platform) and is available on other streaming platforms.

According to the allegations in the lawsuit, a musicologist and symphony conductor found that there were various similarities (that were significant) between “Some Things Never Change” and “That Girl” including “their melodic structure, rhythm sections, and chord progressions.”

The lawsuit also points out that the chorus from “That Girl” focuses on the lyric “some people never change.” You can listen to “Some Things Never Change” below.

According to Grigson, the similarities between the songs “caught him off guard.” The complaint alleges that his daughter turned to him at one point while watching the film and said, “Dad, Disney took your song.”

Reuters noted that Disney has not responded to a request for comment, and an attorney for Grigson also declined to speak on the matter.

The case is pending in the Central District of California so we’ll have to wait and see what becomes of it.

This isn’t the first time Disney has been hit with a lawsuit, as we noted above. When it comes to creative matters, Disney recently lost a motion to dismiss a Mupet Babies lawsuit (which alleged misuse of some ideas for the show), and won a lawsuit related to Duke Caboom in Toy Story 4. The company has also been hit with more park-related lawsuits, specifically two regarding the Park Pass system and how it interacts with Annual Passes.

We’ll keep an eye out for updates regarding this Frozen II case and let you know what we find. For more Disney movie and streaming news, check out the links below.

Do you feel the songs sound similar? Tell us in the comments.