The family of the author whose article inspired Tom Cruise’s 1986 film “Top Gun” sued Paramount Pictures on Monday for copyright infringement over this year’s hit sequel “Top Gun: Maverick.”
According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, the Paramount Global unit failed to recover the rights to Ehud Yonay’s 1983 article “Top Guns” from the family before releasing the “spin-off” sequel.
The claim of Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay, who live in Israel and are respectively the widow and son of Ehud, seeks unspecified damages, including profits from “Top Gun: Maverick,” and to block distribution of the film or future sequels.
Paramount said in a statement: “These claims are without merit and we will vigorously defend ourselves.”
“Top Gun: Maverick” is this year’s biggest box office hit, generating $291 million in North America and $548.6 million worldwide in its first 10 days of release.
The high-flying action film directed by Joseph Kosinski has received critical acclaim and Cruise reprises his role as US Navy test pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
It is already Cruise’s highest-grossing film domestically, surpassing 2005’s “War of the Worlds.”
exclusive rights
According to Monday’s lawsuit, Paramount obtained exclusive film rights to “Top Guns,” published in California magazine’s May 1983 issue, before making the 1986 original, and even gave credit.
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But the Yonays said Paramount deliberately ignored how the copyright reverted to them in January 2020. The Yonays said they sent Paramount a cease and desist letter on May 11 and that, in response, Paramount denied that the sequel was derived from the 1983 article.
They said that Paramount also argued that the sequel was “sufficiently complete” when the copyright was reversed, in a “false attempt” to qualify for an exception to their claim. The Yonays said the sequel will be completed in May 2021.