Paramount Hit with Copyright Lawsuit Surrounding ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

Paramount says the film was completed before rights to the original article were terminated.

The original”Top Gun” was based on a 1983 magazine story called “Top Guns”, by Ehud Yonay. His heirs are taking advantage of a provision in copyright law that allows authors to reclaim the rights to their works after 35 years. They say Paramount didn’t renew the rights to the original article before making the sequel. Paramount says the film was completed before rights to the original article were terminated. Weeks before the release of the new movie, the family sent a cease and desist letter to Paramount. As you know it premiered May 27th after suffering two years of delays due to the pandemic and pulled in $160 million the first four days.