Paramount wins major legal victory over 'Top Gun: Maverick' copyright claims from writer's family

A federal appeals court on Friday tossed a copyright lawsuit claiming Tom Cruise’s 2022 hit sequel "Top Gun: Maverick" improperly used material from a magazine article that inspired the original 1986 film.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled that "Top Gun: Maverick" was not similar enough to Ehud Yonay's 1983 article "Top Guns," about the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, for Paramount to have breached its 1983 agreement with the writer.

U.S. District...