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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Paramount won the Yonay family’s copyright case over Top Gun: Maverick in district court, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed that result on January 2, 2026. The appellate court concluded that the film did not share substantial amounts of protected expression from Ehud Yonay’s 1983 article “Top Guns,” and it upheld judgment for Paramount on a separate credit-related contract claim.
What the lawsuit was about
Shosh and Yuval Yonay, whom the Ninth Circuit identifies as owners of the copyright in “Top Guns,” sued Paramount Pictures Corporation over Top Gun: Maverick, the 2022 sequel to the 1986 film. Ehud Yonay’s 1983 magazine article described the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School, popularly known as “Top Gun.” Ninth Circuit opinion
The complaint, filed June 6, 2022, alleged that Ehud Yonay had assigned motion-picture and related rights to Paramount in 1983, that the heirs’ termination of that grant took effect on January 24, 2020, and that Paramount made the sequel without obtaining a new license. Those were the plaintiffs’ allegations, not findings that the rights had reverted or that the film infringed. Complaint
Why Paramount prevailed on copyright
The copyright question was not simply whether the article and film concerned the same institution or shared recognizable subject matter. Copyright protects original expression, not facts, general ideas, or a subject itself. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the conclusion that the film did not share substantial amounts of the article’s original, protectable expression. The Yonays therefore had not established a triable issue of substantial similarity, a necessary element of their infringement claim. Ninth Circuit opinion
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The panel also found the record insufficient to establish an original and protectable selection and arrangement of elements shared by the works. That is distinct from pointing to individual overlaps: a plaintiff must identify protectable expression, rather than rely on unprotected facts or broad concepts, and show legally significant similarity in that expression.
The decision concerns these two works and the record presented in this case. It does not establish that nonfiction articles can never support infringement claims against films or adaptations.
Rank #2
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- Thrilling sequel to the 1986 classic Top Gun
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How the case reached the Ninth Circuit
- The Yonays filed suit against Paramount in the Central District of California in 2022. The case was Yonay v. Paramount Pictures Corporation, No. 2:22-cv-03846-PA-GJS. Complaint
- Paramount sought summary judgment, arguing that the article and film were not substantially similar in protectable expression and that the contract claim failed. That was Paramount’s position in its motion, not the court’s reasoning by itself. Paramount’s summary-judgment motion
- The district court, presided over by Judge Percy Anderson, granted summary judgment for Paramount.
- The Ninth Circuit heard argument on June 3, 2025, and on January 2, 2026, affirmed the district court’s judgment. The appeal was No. 24-2897. Ninth Circuit case record
The expert evidence and the separate credit claim
The appellate panel also upheld the district court’s expert-evidence rulings. It concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion by excluding the Yonays’ literary expert, Henry Bean, and allowing Paramount’s expert, Andrew Craig. The opinion recounts the district court’s concern that Bean did not filter out factual material that copyright does not protect, while Craig could assist in identifying factual elements. Ninth Circuit opinion
The Yonays separately claimed that Paramount breached the 1983 agreement by failing to credit Ehud Yonay in Top Gun: Maverick. The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Paramount on that contract claim as well. It is a separate issue from whether the film infringed the article’s copyright. Ninth Circuit opinion
Quick Recap
Rank #4
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Rank #3
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