24 Wednesday June 8 2022 | the times
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MALCOLM PARK/ALAMYWriter’s family in
legal dogfight over
Top Gun sequel
Tom Cruise’s Top Gun sequel has
swooped to box office records but the
family of an Israeli writer is trying to
bring the film back down to earth with
a copyright lawsuit.
Shosh and Yuval Yonay, the widow
and son of Ehud Yonay, are suing Para-
mount Pictures, the studio behind Top
Gun: Maverick, for using his work with-
out permission.
The original 1986 film was based on
Ehud’s little-known article in California
magazine. Headlined “Top Guns”, the
1983 piece told the story of two lieuten-
ants at a navy fighter weapons school
named Yogi, a hotshot pilot, and
Possum, his wingman.
Paramount acquired rights to
the story for the first film but
Ehud’s family claims that
the copyright expired in
2020, according to a law-
suit filed at a Los Ange-
les court on Monday.
They argue that it
“naturally follows”
that the sequel is “de-
rived from Ehud Yo-
nay’s story” and that
“Paramount consciously
failed to secure a new li-
cence of film and ancillary
rights”. The Yonays are seek-
ing unspecified damages forbreach of copyright, as well as an in-
junction barring Paramount from dis-
tributing the film.
Paramount said: “These claims are
without merit, and we will defend our-
selves vigorously.”
The Yonays, who are represented by
Marc Toberoff, a veteran Hollywood
copyright lawyer, said they placed Par-
amount on notice in 2018 that its li-
cence would expire in 2020. They also
issued a cease and desist letter in May.
Paramount gave a “total denial” that
the sequel was “derivative” of the maga-
zine story, according to the lawsuit. The
studio added that the film was “suffi-
ciently completed” by the time the
copyright licence expired.
Top Gun: Maverick went into pro-
duction in 2018 and was due to be re-
leased in 2019 but was delayed by
flight sequence-filming and the coro-
navirus pandemic.
The movie has been a re-
sounding success with cine-
magoers. It has grossed
$548 million in its first
ten days at the box
office and landed
Cruise, 59, his first
$100 million open-
ing weekend.Jake Kanter Media CorrespondentAll sewn up The Vanity of Small Differences is part of the Art of Literature exhibition at Christie’s auction house, London, until
July 14. The six tapestries, by the artist Grayson Perry, were inspired by the moral tale A Rake’s Progress by William Hogarth
Tom Cruise has
played Maverick in
both Top Gun filmsTwo children who helped to save their
father after he had a cardiac arrest at
the wheel and was clinically dead for 18
minutes have been given a police award.
Sadie, ten, and Jude, seven, had been
driven to their house in Pembury, Kent,
from football practice by their father
Stuart Waters, 48, when he fell ill while
reversing on to the drive. The children
unfastened his seatbelt and ran inside to
get their mother, and neighbours who
noticed the commotion rushed to help.Children helped to save father
Two women who worked in social care
performed CPR until paramedics ar-
rived. Waters, an HGV driver, was
revived in the ambulance but put in a
coma for three days. He has been fitted
with a defibrillator to regulate his heart
rhythm. He had no history of heart
trouble and described the incident in
March as a “major, major shock”.
Sergeant Joe Breen, of Kent police,
presented the children with a “certifi-
cate of resilience”. Jude said: “We would
like to thank the neighbours for helping
to save our Dad.”Neil JohnstonIN THE TIMES TOMORROW
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