Court Dismisses ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Copyright Lawsuit

A copyright lawsuit against Paramount Pictures over the film "Top Gun: Maverick" has been dismissed by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson for the Central District of California. The lawsuit was brought by the family of Ehud Yonay, alleging that Paramount failed to renegotiate a license before creating the sequel to the original "Top Gun" film, which was inspired by Yonay's 1983 magazine article.

Judge Anderson stated that the article and the sequel film were "largely dissimilar," as the elements of "Maverick," including plot, theme, setting, and dialogue, did not overlap with Yonay's article.

In response to the dismissal, a Paramount Pictures spokesperson shared a statement with Fox Business expressing their satisfaction with the court's recognition that the plaintiffs' claims were without merit.

However, Marc Toberoff, the plaintiff's attorney, expressed disagreement with the ruling and stated that they would exercise their right to appeal to the 9th Circuit. Toberoff highlighted the family's exercise of their rights under the Copyright Act to reclaim Yonay's story and criticized Paramount's handling of the situation.

The lawsuit, filed by Shosh and Yuval Yonay, alleged that Paramount's rights to the article ended in 2020, and that filming for "Top Gun: Maverick" was not completed until May 8, 2021. Despite this, Paramount argued that the film was "sufficiently completed" before its rights to the original article were terminated.

The Yonay family sent a cease-and-desist letter to Paramount on May 11, 2022, just weeks before the release of "Top Gun: Maverick," accusing the studio of a "conscious failure" to re-acquire the necessary film and ancillary rights to the copyrighted story. Toberoff and former federal appellate judge Alex Kozinski, representing the Yonays, asserted that Paramount failed to secure the rights before completing and releasing the sequel.