Ehud Yonay was a journalist whose family claims that Paramount’s rights to the Top Gun plot expired in 2020, 35 years after they purchased them for the first film.
The rights to Top Gun have ensnared Paramount Pictures in a potentially huge legal struggle.
According to a complaint filed in federal court in California on Monday, the studio realized it didn’t own the rights to the sequel but continued to produce and distribute it, regardless.
In 1983, shortly after Yonay’s story was published, Paramount purchased the license to it.
The story of a navy training base centered on the pilots and their personal experiences, with the hotshot pilot “Yogi” and his radio intercept officer “Possum” being singled out.
Jerry Bruckheimer produced the original film, while Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr. wrote the screenplay, all of whom returned for the sequel.
Who Was Apparent Top Gun Writer Ehud Yonay?
A writer and a military student named Ehud Yonay had published a piece for California Magazine on the Top Gunners. Similarly, Hollywood filmmakers saw the magazine piece and adapted it into a film starring Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis.
Following its debut in 1986, Top Gun had a significant influence on San Diego, not only because the Navy’s pilot training school was located here, but also because Cruise’s character, “Maverick,” rode about the city in his spare time and showed off a bit of the city.
Besides, he returned to Israel after finishing the magazine piece to study and write No Margin for Error: the Making of the Israeli Air Force, a powerful military-themed book.
Additionally, he acquired farmland in Kfar Hasidim, a Chasidic Jewish community founded by family members.
Brief Details On Ehud Yonay’s Family
As for his family, in the year 1940, Yonay was born in Haifa, Israel, to his parents Mordechai and Erella Yonay. As he grew up, he was accompanied by his brother, Yosef Yonge.
He, too, was married to Shosh Yonge. Yuval Yonge is their son. Sadly, Ehud died of brain cancer in Israel in 2012, at the age of 71.
Further, his widow, Shosh Yonay, and son, Yuval Yonay, just filed a notice in 2018 regaining the copyright to the narrative Top Gun, which came into effect in 2020.
More On Ehud Yonay’s Script Lawsuit
According to reports, the heirs of the original article author have filed a copyright lawsuit against Paramount Pictures for ‘Top Gun.’
Similarly, they claim that Paramount released “Top Gun: Maverick” without first securing a new license to utilize the underlying material, according to the lawsuit.
Besides, the lawsuit asks for monetary damages as well as an injunction prohibiting Paramount from releasing the picture.
After 35 years, writers have the authority to cancel copyright transfers under Section 203 of the Copyright Act.