Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick in legal troubles over copyright claims?
A copyright lawsuit was reportedly filed against Tom Cruise's 'Top Gun: Maverick’, claiming that the film was inspired by an article published in 1983. The makers of the movie, Paramount Studios, have rejected the claims.
FollowA lawsuit was filed against Paramount Studios, alleging that Tom Cruise-starrer 'Top Gun: Maverick' violates the copyright of the 1983 magazine article that inspired the first film. According to Variety, Ehud Yonay's widow and son, Shosh and Yuval Yonay, filed the lawsuit in June, claiming that the studio produced the sequel without first renewing the rights to the work.
According to a report in Variety, in their petition to dismiss, Paramount argued that it did not need to acquire the rights because the non-fiction article's facts and ideas are not protected by copyright and "Top Gun: Maverick" is a work of fiction with essentially had nothing in common with it. "Any similarity between these vastly different works stems from the fact that Top Gun is an actual naval training facility...Plaintiffs do not have a monopoly over works about Top Gun," the studio's lawyers argued.
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Yonay's work did serve as the inspiration for Paramount's 1986 film adaptation of 'Top Gun.' After 35 years, copyright law allows authors to reclaim their pieces of work. Yonay died in 2012, according to Variety, but his widow and son filed a notice in 2018 terminating the studio's copyright to the article.
Variety in its report claimed that the complaint makes a significant attempt to demonstrate the numerous alleged parallels between the original article and the follow-up. According to the complaint, Yonay used "vivid and cinematic" language to give life to what may have otherwise been a simple list of facts. In contrast, Paramount emphasises the differences between the two pieces. Additionally, other similarities are just common traits that nobody could claim to possess, per the studio's motion.
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According to Paramount, "Plaintiffs do not have a monopoly over these (unremarkable) facts simply because Yonay earlier reported on them." Elite fighter pilots "love to fly, are dedicated to their craft, and are competitive." The report further added that the Yonays have asked for a court order to stop Paramount from profiting from the movie, which has made $1.4 billion globally. Paramount contends that the injunction ought to be denied since they have slim chances of proving their claim of intellectual property infringement. There will be a hearing taking place on September 26.
