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Top Gun' heirs sue Paramount over 'Top Gun: Maverick
June 07, 2022, 10:39 AM
M-11Top Gun' heirs sue Paramount over 'Top Gun: Maverick
Since the copyright didn't revert back to them until January 2020, and production had started in 2018, wouldn't that be a factor?
"Common sense is wisdom with its sleeves rolled up." -Kyle Farnsworth
"Freedom of Speech does not guarantee freedom from consequences." -Mike Rowe
"Democracies aren't overthrown, they're given away." -George Lucas June 07, 2022, 10:49 AM
jhe888quote:
Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I'm sure Paramount has a big enough legal department that they should have headed this off even before the movie was made.
Or they did the analysis and decided they had low risk. But still, lawyers are not in the "low risk" business, so the business people made the ultimate decision if they decided to take that risk. Or maybe someone missed this.
The fish is mute, expressionless. The fish doesn't think because the fish knows everything. June 07, 2022, 10:51 AM
jhe888quote:
Originally posted by M-11:
Since the copyright didn't revert back to them until January 2020, and production had started in 2018, wouldn't that be a factor?
Assuming the rights matter, you have to have them at all relevant times, which would generally include release. Again, we would have to know what is actually in the agreement for these rights to be able to say anything worth saying.
The fish is mute, expressionless. The fish doesn't think because the fish knows everything. June 07, 2022, 11:05 AM
BBMWIf an article is non fiction. The USN Fighter Weapons School (AKA Top Gun) is a real institution, in which the author has no interest. Does the author of the article have a copywrite on the subject matter on which it's based? Does anyone who creates anything referencing Top Gun own them royalties?
quote:
Originally posted by a1abdj:
quote:
The name top gun is pre-existing military slang, or even formal terminology, and likely in the public domain, and was prior to the article.
The lawsuit isn't over the name. It's over the copywritten authored article which was the premise for the first movie.
June 07, 2022, 11:22 AM
oddballquote:
Originally posted by Blackmore:
Just once I'd like to see a "tickets sold" figure so you could do an apple v apple comparison with some of the classics and hits of the pass.
Gross is based on constantly rising ticket prices and inflation and doesn't IMHO reflect a film's true popularity.
One can find top grossing films "adjusted for inflation". On numerous lists, Gone With The Wind is the box office champ, earning almost 4 billion dollars in adjusted dollars.
"I’m not going to read Time Magazine, I’m not going to read Newsweek, I’m not going to read any of these magazines; I mean, because they have too much to lose by printing the truth"- Bob Dylan, 1965
June 07, 2022, 12:14 PM
slosigquote:
Originally posted by jhe888:
Of course, that won't stop a lot of people from having an opinion.

Of course it won’t stop folks from having an opinion. I dunno who is right (or who will eventually “win”). Here’s hoping that the reporting is halfway decent.

June 07, 2022, 12:27 PM
pedropcolaDid the article in question talk about MiG 28’s and have characters? This seems strange, including paying them in the first place. If I read an article about LeBron and then write a script about basketball it seems a stretch to pay anybody for what is common knowledge to anyone.
Not a lawyer but I’m betting this has no legs.
June 07, 2022, 01:11 PM
sig2392I am not a lawyer but the people that are referencing top gun as a way to duck are going in the wrong direction.
This in my mind is like the James Bond franchise.
There is a British secret service but the rest is fictional characters. Copyrighted with With the legal rights that go with it. Movie makers pay dearly for those rights.
On a funny side note. Ian Fleming admits getting the name from an author of ornithology books he was reading when he wrote the books.
The real James Bond gets calls from drunk women looking for the real James Bond.
His wife answers the phone and tells them she is the real Pussy Galore and she is keeping him busy.
Life imitating art.
I am willing to bet this settles for a good chunk of change unless they bought the rights outright for the previous movie.
The lawyers for the plaintiffs are saying Paramount was on Notice in 2018 that the rights expire in January 2020.
June 07, 2022, 04:26 PM
a1abdjIf the film makers didn’t legally need to purchase the rights they wouldn’t have purchased them the first time (or given the original author credit in the original).
The same attorney representing the family is the same attorney who represented families against Marvel. Similar situations where the copywrites were recaptured by the estates of the original authors.
June 07, 2022, 05:01 PM
Rey HRHquote:
Originally posted by oddball:
quote:
Originally posted by Blackmore:
Just once I'd like to see a "tickets sold" figure so you could do an apple v apple comparison with some of the classics and hits of the pass.
Gross is based on constantly rising ticket prices and inflation and doesn't IMHO reflect a film's true popularity.
One can find top grossing films "adjusted for inflation". On numerous lists, Gone With The Wind is the box office champ, earning almost 4 billion dollars in adjusted dollars.
That's interesting but it made me consider that back then there weren't many alternatives for entertainment. With today's many more choices, making a dent in the market place means much more. All this to say I guess it's more complex to try to normalize metrics to make a fair comparison.
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.