The family of the author whose article inspired the 1986 Tom Cruise film Top Gun is suing Paramount Pictures for copyright infringement for this year’s highly successful sequel Top Gun: Maverick .
According to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the Paramount Global unit was unable to recover the rights to the family’s 1983 Top Guns article by Ehud Yonay before the “derivative” sequel was released.
The lawsuit is filed by Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay, who live in Israel and are, respectively, the widow and son of Ehud, claiming unspecified damages, including the benefits of Top Gun: Maverick, and blocking the distribution of the film. or other sequelae.
Paramount did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Top Gun: Maverick is the biggest box office hit this year, grossing $ 291 million ($ 403 million) in North America and $ 548.6 million ($ 759.9 million) worldwide in its first 10 days of release.
Camera Icon Descendants of the author who inspired the original Top Gun movie are suing the creators of this year’s sequel. Credit: AP
The high-flying action film directed by Joseph Kosinski has received rave reviews and Cruise reprises his role as U.S. Navy test pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
It is already the highest grossing film of Cruise nationwide, surpassing the 2005 War of the Worlds.
According to Monday’s lawsuit, Paramount obtained the exclusive rights to the Top Guns movies, published in the May 1983 issue of California magazine, before making the 1986 original, and even gave credit.
But the Yonays said Paramount deliberately ignored how their copyright was returned to them in January 2020, “blotting their noses” at federal copyright law.
The Yonays said they sent Paramount a letter of cessation and withdrawal on May 11, and in response, Paramount denied that the sequel was derived from the 1983 article.
Tom Cruise Camera Icon plays Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick. Credits: Scott Garfield / Scott Garfield
They said Paramount also argued that the sequel was “sufficiently complete” when the copyright was reversed in a “false attempt” to qualify for an exception to its claim.
The Yonays said the sequel was completed in May 2021.
Yonays’ lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Got it over the phone, a woman who identified herself as Shosh Yonay and said her son was Yuval refused to comment.