That might be a reason. Disney was going to do a movie about Kimba the lion from Japan and then changed it to Simba so they could avoid the royalties.
"Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow." Frankenstein