Family of Top Gun author sues studio behind Tom Cruise's sequel hit

msn.com:

Video: Tom Cruise: Top Gun sequel was 'daunting task' (Sky News)Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard explainedAmber Heard lawyer: Depp was 'very, very violent''Fill the silence with your music'Reaction to Will Smith's attackSmith family poses after controversyThe joke that provoked Will SmithEmotional speeches at 2022 OscarsCODA cast on Oscar winWhere do the stars keep their Oscars?'Day-to-day fears' of womenDinklage: Making Cyrano was a 'family affair'Jamal Edwards: 'Everything is possible'How Holland-Wahlberg 'blossomed'Lockdown inspires Branagh movieWatch main Oscar nominationsBritney Spears conservatorship finally overThey claim Paramount failed to reacquire the rights from them before releasing the "derivative" sequel "Top Gun: Maverick".

The family is seeking damages and an injunction that would stop Paramount distributing the movie. It has accused Paramount of knowing the copyright had reverted and deliberately going ahead with the sequel anyway, "thumbing its nose" at copyright law.

The Yonays claim they sent Paramount a cease-and-desist letter on May 11, two weeks before the film was released, and that in response Paramount denied it was derived from the 1983 magazine article. "Top Gun: Maverick" was originally scheduled for release in 2019, just before the claimed reversion of the copyright to the Yonays.

Paramount has argued that the sequel was "sufficiently completed" by the time the copyright reverted. But the Yonays claim that is "disingenuous" and that the sequel was only completed in May 2021.