Court throws out author’s ‘pedantic’ copyright claim against Disney’s Indiana Jones film

A Brisbane author has lost her appeal against Disney’s local arm over claims her self-published e-book heavily inspired the final instalment of the Indiana Jones film series.

Brisbane author Daria Gomez Gane argued in Queensland’s Court of Appeal on Thursday that a District Court judge erred when they found in favour of The Walt Disney Company (Australia) Pty Ltd last year.

Ms Gane sued the entertainment conglomerate in 2024 over an alleged copyright infringement.

The self-published author claimed the 2023 film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny reproduced a substantial part of her 2021 e-book The Michelangelo Dilemma: Secrets of Renaissance Time Travelers.

In 2025, Brisbane District Court Judge Dominique Grigg threw out the case before it went to trial, finding no prospect of success for Ms Gane.

“No one owns the copyright in a basic story idea. The question is whether the themes and plots necessarily follow?” Judge Grigg said.

“Here, the details in the e-book are limited compared to the richness of the film’s content. The

simple identification of a male protagonist, a time-travel device or both is not sufficient to attract copyright protection.

“Even relying on a combination of features or elements does not necessarily elevate what is a commonplace or abstract idea into protectable copyright subject matter.

A Brisbane author lost her court appeal after accusing one of the world's biggest conglomerates, Walt Disney Company, of copying her self-published e-Book to create the latest Indiana Jones film.

“There are certainly some similarities in ideas but only at an abstract level.

“The devices are different, the method of time travel is different, the characters are different, and there is no shared dialogue.”

At her appeal, Ms Gane argued Judge Grigg had been “fed incorrect information” and could not properly interrogate each work for similarities.

She drew attention to perceived inconsistencies in the judgment, including the amount of time travellers identified in her e-book, the setting location in both works and certain similar wording such as Walt Disney Company’s use of the word “propeller”.