Some things never change. The Walt Disney Company frequently has to deal with lawsuits from people who claim that the House of Mouse stole their idea, and a new lawsuit has been filed, against both Disney, and specifically against frequent Disney songwriter Robert Lopez, by a man who claims that the Frozen 2 song “Some Things Never Change” is virtually identical to a song he wrote nearly two decades earlier.
According to legal documents obtained by TMZ, a musician named Daniel Grigson has filed suit against Disney and Robert Lopez claiming that the song “Some Things Never Change” is far too similar to his song “That Girl” from 2001. Grigson calls out nearly every element of the tune saying that the beat, rhythm, feel, theme, and words are all too similar to his song.
Grigson apparently took his then 11-year-old daughter to see Frozen 2 in the theaters when the movie was released in 2019 and it was then that he noticed that the song was too close for comfort. In the interim period Grigson reportedly hired somebody to analyze the two songs, and they found the songs to be similar from both an auditory and technical standpoint. The lawsuit asks Disney to pay him some portion of the profits from the song to date, and to stop using it.
This is far from the first time that we’ve seen Disney get sued for allegedly stealing an idea from somebody else. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise alone has been sued several times by one person who claims that concepts for the original film were his first. These cases are traditionally dismissed, or settled out of court so we never really know what happens.
Even if there are similarities between the two songs, claiming copyright infringement of music can be tough, as one must prove that the offending party has heard, or is likely to have heard, the alleged “original” piece of music. It’s unclear if there is any claim being made in that regard as to how the songwriters would have come into contact with this other song.
Music copyright lawsuits are a fairly regular part of making music it seems. Taylor Swift has had to deal with lawsuits over alleged copyright infringement. Mariah Carey’s song that is likely to get a lot of play over the next couple of months, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has also been part of a lawsuit. Even Kanye West is currently dealing with a copyright suit of his own.
We’ll have to wait and see how Disney responds to the lawsuit, though it seems almost certain that the company’s legal team will be put to work defending this one. We’ll be keeping an eye on this to see if it goes anywhere.
