{"id":129049,"date":"2022-08-27T18:57:03","date_gmt":"2022-08-27T18:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=129049"},"modified":"2022-08-27T18:57:03","modified_gmt":"2022-08-27T18:57:03","slug":"top-gun-maverick-copyright-lawsuit-should-be-grounded-paramount-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/top-gun-maverick-copyright-lawsuit-should-be-grounded-paramount-says\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Copyright Lawsuit Should Be Grounded, Paramount Says"},"content":{"rendered":"
“It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot,” they say in the Tom Cruise-starring blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick,<\/em> and that’s kind of what Paramount thinks about a copyright lawsuit they’ve been slapped with over the fighter jet film.<\/p>\n “When the Court reviews the article and Maverick, as opposed to Plaintiffs’ irrelevant and misleading purported comparison of the works, it is clear as a matter of law that Maverick does not borrow any of the article’s protected expression,” says Paramount in a motion to dismiss response filed Friday in federal court in California.<\/p>\n “Plaintiffs do not have a monopoly over works about Top Gun<\/em>.”<\/p>\n The dispute is between Paramount Pictures and the Israeli-based widow and son of the author of a 1983 article that inspired the original 1986 movie.<\/p>\n In a copyright suit filed earlier this summer in California federal court, Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay want unspecified but clearly big-bucks damages from the studio. They also requested an injunction to stop screenings and distribution of the May 27-released sequel, as well as any more more movies in the franchise.<\/p>\n Calling Top Gun: Maverick<\/em> “derivative,” the Marc Toberoff- and Alex Kozinski-represented Yonays alleged that Paramount is “thumbing its nose at the statute” that allows the termination of rights after 35 years (read the court complaint here).<\/p>\n The studio response Friday claimed the film doesn’t borrow from the article.<\/p>\n Seeking unspecfied damages, the family originally claimed that the “derivative” Maverick<\/em> sequel runs contrary to the termination rights that they claim they hold over the property.<\/p>\n “To the contrary, any similarity between these vastly different works derives from the fact that Top Gun<\/em> is an actual naval training facility,” states the August 26th filing by Daniel Petrocelli and Molly N. Lens of the law firm O’Melveny & Myers, representing the studio.<\/p>\n “These claims are entirely without merit, and we will continue to vigorously defend this lawsuit,” said a Paramount spokesperson to Deadline<\/em> today in language reminiscent of their initial response to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n In yet another rematch between Petrocelli and plaintiff’s lawyer Marc Toveroff, along with associate Alex Kozinski, Paramount has asked the court for a hearing on Sept. 26.<\/p>\n Certainly, there are some high-flying stakes at play here. The long-awaited Cruise sequel to the iconic Reagan-era movie has pulled in a total of nearly $1.4 billion worldwide since its release in theaters in late May.<\/p>\n Petrocelli and Toveroff have battled on numerous infringement cases over the years.<\/p>\n In the May 1983 edition of California<\/em> magazine, Ehud Yonay penned “Top Guns,” about the pilots and program “located in a second-floor cubby of offices at the east end of Hangar One at Miramar.” The piece was optioned ASAP and Yonay was cited in the credits of the first Top Gun<\/em>.<\/p>\n The rights to the article reverted back to the Yonays in January 2020.<\/p>\n Read the complete filing here: MTD<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\nRelated Story<\/h4>\n
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