TURBULENCE

Paramount Sued Over Rights to ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

The lawsuit was filed by the heirs of Ehud Yonay, who wrote the 1983 story that inspired “Top Gun.”

After Top Gun: Maverick broke box office records, Paramount Pictures is being sued for alleged copyright infringement. In 1983, Ehud Yonay published a magazine piece entitled “Top Guns,” which became inspiration for the original 1986 film. Paramount licensed the magazine piece in 1983, but the lawsuit—filed by Yonay’s heirs—alleges that the studio had lost the rights to Top Gun before releasing the sequel. The suit, filed in California federal court, references a part of copyright law that enables authors or their heirs to reclaim rights to stories 35 years after they were first transferred, and claims that the Yonays sent Paramount a termination notice in January of 2018. “On January 24, 2018, the copyright to the Story thus reverted to the Yonays under the Copyright Act, but Paramount deliberately ignored this,” the lawsuit claims. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages, including some Top Gun: Maverick profits.