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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 the family
before releasing the "derivative" sequel.
The lawsuit by Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay, who live in Israel
and are respectively Ehud's widow and son, seeks unspecified
damages, including profits from "Top Gun: Maverick," and to
block distribution of the movie or further sequels.
Paramount said in a statement: "These claims are without merit,
and we will defend ourselves vigorously."
"Top Gun: Maverick" is this year's biggest box office hit,
generating $291 million in North America and $548.6 million
globally in its first 10 days of release.
The high-flying action film directed by Joseph Kosinski has
received strong reviews, and has Cruise reprising his role as
U.S. Navy test pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell.
It is already Cruise's highest-grossing film domestically,
surpassing 2005's "War of the Worlds."
According to Monday's lawsuit, Paramount obtained exclusive
movie rights to "Top Guns," 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 the
copyright reverted to them in January 2020, "thumbing its nose"
at federal copyright law.
The Yonays said they sent Paramount a cease-and-desist letter on
May 11, and that in response Paramount denied that the sequel
derived from the 1983 article.
They said Paramount also argued that the sequel was
"sufficiently completed" by the time the copyright reverted, in
a "disingenuous attempt" to qualify for an exception to their
claim. The Yonays said the sequel was completed in May 2021.
Lawyers for the Yonays did not immediately respond to requests
for comment. Reached by phone, a woman who identified herself as
Shosh Yonay and said her son was Yuval declined to comment.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting
by Dan Williams in JerusalemEditing by Matthew Lewis)
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