Family of Original Writer of Top Gun Sues Studio That Produced Top Gun: Maverick

If you’ve been making a list of movies you want to catch lately, Top Gun: Maverick, might be on your list.

And though the sequel to the hit 1986 Top Gun film may seem impressive, it seems like whatever’s going on behind the scenes of the film is anything but that.

Recently, Paramount Pictures was sued by Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay, the widow and son of Israeli writer Ehud Yonay after the Top Gun: Maverick film was released.

And if his name doesn’t sound familiar, here’s a quick recap of who he is.

Yonay, the original writer of the Top Gun story back in 1983, was the man behind the inspiration for the original Top Gun movie that was released in 1986.

After publishing the Top Gun story in the May issue of California magazine, he registered it in the United States Copyright Office in the same year.

The Top Gun film in 1986 went on to become the number-one film of that year.

He passed away in 2012 at the age of 71, leaving his wife and son with control over his work.

Sued Paramount for Not Obtaining Licence

The mother-son duo sued Paramount for releasing Top Gun: Maverick due to copyright infringement issues since Paramount did not obtain a licence from Yonay’s estate.

According to the Yonays, a notice was first given to Paramount in 2018 to inform them that their copyrights to the Top Gun franchise had been terminated under the Copyright Act.

However, Paramount still went on to release the fighter pilot movie directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Tom Cruise late last month without getting permission from the Yonays.

The film was initially slated to be released back in July 2019, but ended up undergoing several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the Yonays’ claims, Paramount said in a statement, “These claims are without merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”

Paramount Apparently Has “Exclusive Motion Picture Rights”

However, based on the complaint that was lodged on Monday (6 June) in the Los Angeles federal court, Paramount apparently has exclusive motion picture rights to the Top Gun story.

According to the complaint, Paramount managed to secure the rights shortly after it was published.

On the other hand, the Yonays insisted that they were given sole right of the US copyright for the Top Gun story on 24 January 2020 after issuing a statutory notice of termination under the Copyright Act to Paramount back in 2018.

According to the Yonays, they took up a provision of the law that lets artists who initially transfer copyrights of their work reclaim the rights 35 years after transferring them.

Apparently, the Yonays sent a “cease-and-desist” letter to Paramount in May as well.

Based on the reply they got from Paramount, the movie studio completely rejected the notion that the content in their newest blockbuster originated from the late Yonay’s original story.

However, Paramount wrote in the complaint that the movie had already been “sufficiently completed” prior to when the copyright rights they had over the Top Gun story were terminated.

According to U.S. News, the Yonays then rebutted this point by highlighting that the filming for Top Gun: Maverick only ended in May last year, more than a year after Paramount lost rights to the Top Gun story.

Personnel Involved in Court Case

This case was initially brought to attention after attorney Marc Toberoff filed it. Toberoff mainly specialises in representing artists and writers when they sue movie studios.

Apart from the current case, Toberoff has previously represented other well-known figures such as comic book artists against Walt Disney after Disney acquired the Marvel superhero franchise back in 2009.

Alex Kozinski, who served as a judge on the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the past, is also part of the team representing the Yonays.

Kozinski, an avid movie lover, has worked extensively with copyright litigation issues in the past.

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As for what Top Gun means to Paramount, it’s safe to say that it’s one of the movie studio’s biggest assets in terms of intellectual property.

According to IMDb, the film currently has a rating of 8.6/10 and has been consistently in the top spot for popularity since its release.

Even though other films such as the Sonic The Hedgehog films and A Quiet Place have earned the company various number-one films, it has never seen as much success as it has with Top Gun: Maverick.

The previous time that Paramount saw such a big box office opening was back in 2010, when it acquired the rights to release the Iron Man movie.

Based on IMDbPro, Top Gun: Maverick has already earned more within the first two weeks of its release than any of Paramount’s other movies that were released in the past decade.

In the past two weeks, it has earned a whopping US$557 million (approximately S$765 million) from ticket sales worldwide.

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Featured Image: imdb.com