The family of the Israeli writer whose article inspired Tom Cruise’s 1986 blockbuster Top Gun is suing film producer Paramount Pictures for copyright infringement in the sequel.
They argue that when the sequel Top Gun: Maverick was published last month, the studio did not have the rights to Ehud Yonay’s 1983 tale “Top Guns.”
The film earned $548m (£438m) globally in its first 10 days of release.
Paramount says the claim was “without merit” and vowed to contest it.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in Los Angeles by Ehud’s widow and son, Shosh and Yuval Yonay, claims that Paramount neglected to reacquire the rights to Ehud’s magazine piece after it was terminated under the US Copyright Act.
They are suing the film company for unspecified damages, including revenues from Top Gun: Maverick.
According to the lawsuit, Paramount’s Top Gun franchise would not have existed without Ehud’s “literary efforts and evocative prose and narrative”.
The lawsuit said that in 2018, the Yonays informed Paramount that its rights to Ehud’s article would be terminated two years later.
It added that the studio lost the copyright for the piece in January 2020.
“Much as Paramount wants to pretend otherwise, they made a sequel to Top Gun after they lost their copyright,” lawyer Marc Toberoff, who is representing the Yonays stated.
Paramount said in a statement: “These claims are without merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”
