Paramount's motion to oppose Top Gun: Maverick copyright lawsuit dismissed

In the May 1983 issue of California magazine, Ehud Yonay wrote an article called "Top Gun" about a pilot and a flight plan "located in a second-floor office cubicle at the east end of Hangar 1 at Miramar." The piece was later optioned for the film Top Gun, and Yonay was credited in the first film.

The second film, "Top Gun: Maverick", was released this year, but Ehud Yonay's son Shosh Yonay said that according to copyright law, the copyright had been returned to the Yonay family in January 2020. Shosh Yonay then filed a lawsuit in court in June and asked the film production company Paramount to claim compensation for breach of contract, saying that the 2022 sequel did not obtain his consent.

Paramount subsequently filed a motion to oppose the lawsuit, asking the court to dismiss it. The court has recently rejected the request.

"Defendants' principal argument in their motion to dismiss is that plaintiffs have not adequately demonstrated in their FACs that the article and the sequel are 'not substantially similar.' The court disagrees," U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson wrote in an order issued Thursday.

“For the reasons stated above, the Court denies the Motion. The Court concludes that the FAC (First Amended Appeal Document) contains sufficient facts to establish viable claims for copyright infringement, breach of contract, and declaratory relief.”

A Paramount Pictures spokesperson told DEADLINE on November 11: “While the court declined to dismiss this case so early in the proceedings, we will continue to defend our rights in this lawsuit and believe we can prove that there is no factual basis behind these claims.”