According to a complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the Paramount Global unit failed to repurchase the rights to Ehud Yonay's 1983 article "Top Guns" from the Yonay family before releasing the "derivative" sequel.
The lawsuit, filed by Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay, Ehud's widow and son, seeks unspecified damages, including profits from "Top Gun: Maverick," as well as the prohibition of further sequels.
"These claims are without merit," said Mount in a statement. "We will vigorously defend ourselves."
"Top Gun: Maverick" is this year's biggest box office success, grossing $291 million in North America and $548.6 million worldwide in its first ten days. more info
The film, directed by Joseph Kosinski, has received positive reviews, and Cruise reprises his role as US Navy test pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell.
It has already surpassed 2005's "War of the Worlds" as Cruise's highest-grossing film in the United States.
According to the lawsuit, before making the 1986 original, Paramount obtained exclusive movie rights to "Top Guns," which was published in the May 1983 issue of California magazine, and even gave credit.
The Yonays, on the other hand, claimed that Paramount purposefully ignored how the copyright reverted to them in January 2020, "thumbing its nose" at federal copyright law.
The Yonays claimed they sent a cease-and-desist letter to Paramount on May 11, and that in response, Paramount denied that the sequel was based on the 1983 article.
They claimed that in a "disingenuous attempt" to qualify for an exception to their claim, Paramount also claimed that the sequel was "sufficiently completed" by the time the copyright reverted. The Yonays stated that the sequel would be finished in May 2021.
The Yonays' lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. When reached by phone, a woman identified as Shosh Yonay and said her son's name was Yuval declined to comment.