By Jonathan Stempel
Jan 2 (Reuters) – A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the 2022 Tom Cruise blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” did not infringe a magazine article that inspired the original 1986 “Top Gun” film.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California said “Maverick,” from Paramount Pictures, was not substantially similar to “Top Guns,” a 1983 article by Ehud Yonay about the U.S. Navy’s Top Gun fighter pilot training school in San Diego.
Yonay gave Paramount rights to his article that year for the original “Top Gun,” and was credited in the film.
His widow Shosh Yonay and son Yuval Yonay, heirs to his copyright, terminated the license in 2020 and said they deserved some profits from “Maverick,” whose $1.5 billion worldwide gross is the 14th highest ever according to Box Office Mojo. “Maverick” is also Cruise’s highest-grossing film.
Lawyers for the Yonays did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Paramount, part of Paramount Skydance, and its lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.
The Yonays, both from Israel, said “Maverick” shared plot, character, dialogue and thematic elements with “Top Guns,” with both works depicting “what it takes to be the best of the best in fighter aviation.”
The three-judge appeals court panel said “Maverick” contained many significant plot elements not in “Top Guns,” including a romantic subplot and Cruise’s character, Navy Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, returning to train younger pilots.
It also said the Yonays described both works at “such a high level of abstraction” that the alleged similarities were not protectable.
“Their claim of substantial similarity fails because what is protected is not similar, and what is similar is not protected,” Circuit Judge Eric Miller wrote.
The panel added that Paramount was not required to credit Ehud Yonay in “Maverick” because his 1983 agreement did not cover the film.
Friday’s decision upheld an April 2024 dismissal by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson in Los Angeles.
Paramount is also defending against a lawsuit in New York by screenwriter Shaun Gray, who said he wrote several scenes that appeared in “Maverick” and deserves some of its profits. Jury selection is scheduled for March 9.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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