Facts

On April 21, 1983, California Magazine published Ehud Yonay's piece entitled, "Top Guns," which recounted F-14 pilots' and radio intercept officers' experiences as they trained at the Navy's Fighter Weapons School, known as Top Gun. The following month, Yonay assigned his rights to the article to Paramount Pictures. The assignment required Paramount to credit Yonay in certain circumstances, and when the original "Top Gun" movie was released, Yonay received a "suggested by" credit.

Several years later, on January 23, 2018, after Yonay's death, his widow, Shosh, and son, Ehud, sent Paramount a Notice of Termination, terminating Paramount's rights to the article that would be effective January 24, 2020. On May 27, 2022, Paramount released a sequel to the original "Top Gun" film without crediting Yonay, and the following month, his widow and son sued Paramount for breach of contract, declaratory relief, and copyright infringement.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs contended that defendant breached the assignment of rights agreement by not crediting Yonay in the sequel; infringed plaintiffs' copyright by including substantially similar "key elements" of the article in the sequel; and a declaration that the sequel was derivative of the article with defendant having no right to make or distribute the sequel.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant argued that as the plot, sequence of events, and pacing were largely dissimilar, there were no substantial similarities that would provide copyright protection between the article and sequel. As for any similar elements, those were based on unprotected elements--facts or familiar stock scenes not entitled to copyright protection.

Result

The court agreed with defendant and granted its motion for summary judgment.