Paramount sued over ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

Published Tue, Jun 7, 2022 · 12:10 AM

FILE PHOTO: US actor Tom Cruise (extreme right) with some members of the cast of Top Gun: Maverick at the premiere of the film in London on May 19. The family of the (now late) writer of the 1983 article "Top Guns" is suing for unspecified damages, including some profits from the film. The family holds the copyright to the article which inspired the movie and its derivative sequel. REUTERS

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THE family of the author whose article inspired the 1986 Tom Cruise film, Top Gun, on Monday (Jun 6) sued Paramount Pictures for copyright infringement over this year’s blockbuster sequel, Top Gun: Maverick.

According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, the Paramount Global unit failed to reacquire the rights to Ehud Yonay’s 1983 article “Top Guns” from his family before releasing the “derivative” sequel.

Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay, who live in Israel and are respectively Ehud’s widow and son, said Paramount deliberately ignored that the copyright reverted to them in January 2020, “thumbing its nose” at federal copyright law.

Paramount did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, including some profits from Top Gun: Maverick, and to block Paramount from distributing the movie or further sequels.

The film is this year’s biggest box office hit, generating US$291 million in North America and US$548.6 million globally in its first 10 days of release.

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