Paramount Flies High As ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Copyright Suit Against Studio Dismissed

deadline.com:

The nearly two-year old dogfight between Paramount and the family of the writer of the 1983 article that inspired the franchise is over.

In an order released late on April 5,  U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson grounded the copyright infringement, breach of contract, and declaratory relief action by the Israeli-based widow and son of Ehud Yonay “Defendant is entitled to summary judgment on plaintiffs Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay’s (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) claims for breach of contract, declaratory relief, and copyright infringement,” he wrote in a the one-page judgement. “Plaintiffs shall take nothing and Defendant shall have its costs of suit.” “Plaintiffs contend that the Article and Sequel (collectively, “the Works”) are substantially similar because they have similar plots, sequences of events, pacing, themes, moods, dialogue, characters, and settings,” the judge said in a separate 14-page minutes in chambers document also made public last Friday. “Defendant contends that the similarities identified by Plaintiffs are either not similarities at all, or are similarities based on unprotected elements of the Works.

The Court concludes that the Article and Sequel are not substantially similar under the extrinsic test.” With Tom Cruise and Maverick EPs Jerry Bruckheimer and David Ellison undoubtedly pleased, Paramount today told Deadline: “We are pleased that the court recognized that plaintiffs’ claims were completely without merit.” First filed in June 2022, the case has been through almost as many twists and turns as a F-14 in combat.

The complaint claims that $1.5 billion box office hit sequel violated termination rights. The Ehud Yonay penned “Top Guns” from California magazine’s May 1983 edition, about the