Paramount Pictures is being sued for alleged copyright infringement over their new film, Top Gun: Maverick.
According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, the production company is accused of failing to reacquire the rights to a 1983 article, entitled “Top Guns”, which inspired the original 1986 Top Gun film.
The family of the Ehud Yonay, the author of said article, are seeking unspecified damages, including profits from Top Gun: Maverick, and to block the further distribution of the film and further sequels.
View this post on Instagram
According to Monday’s lawsuit, Paramount obtained exclusive movie rights to “Top Guns”, published in the May 1983 issues of California magazine, before making the original film, and even gave credit.
However, Shosh and Yuval Yonay, Ehud’s widow and son respectively, have claimed Paramount deliberately ignored how the copyright reverted to them in January 2020, “thumbing its nose” at federal copyright law.
In response to the suit, Paramount said in a statement: “These claims are without merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”
The Yonays also stated that they had sent Paramount Pictures a cease-and-desist letter on May 11th, and that in response, Paramount denied that the sequel had been derived from the 1983 article.
View this post on Instagram
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the sequel sees Tom Cruise reprise his role as US Navy test pilot, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
The film has received stellar reviews from critics, with Peter Howell of The Toronto Star describing it as bringing “fresh drama and heart to the Top Gun tale, exceeding the ’86 original.”
Top Gun: Maverick is this year’s biggest box office hit so far, raking in $291 million in North America and €500 million globally, in its initial ten days of release.
The film is already the 59-year-old’s highest grossing film domestically, surpassing the 2005 hit, War of the Worlds.
