The cousin of one of the screenwriters for “Top Gun: Maverick” has lost a lawsuit against Paramount for claiming he wrote a key scene in the movie.
Plaintiff Sean Gray now faces potential liability for allegedly defrauding studios and infringing copyrights.
Judge Jed Rakoff on Friday rejected Gray’s copyright claim against Paramount, ruling that Gray could not copyright the scenes based on the studio’s intellectual property.
“Gray is undoubtedly a writer who based his entire screenplay on existing material, including the characters, setting, and plot devices of ‘Top Gun,'” Rakoff wrote. “Therefore, Gray’s copyright is invalid.”
Mr. Gray, who has worked primarily as a visual effects artist, sued the studio last April, alleging that he worked closely with his cousin, screenwriter Eric Singer, and director Joseph Kosinski for five months and kept meticulous files documenting his contributions to the screenplay.
He claimed to have been responsible for at least a dozen important action scenes in the film.
Paramount filed a countersuit in September, accusing Gray of infringing copyright by writing scenes based on “Top Gun” and of fraudulently concealing his role in writing the screenplay for financial gain.
Rakoff previously rejected Gray’s claims of co-authorship, but allowed the copyright infringement claim to proceed to discovery. In Friday’s ruling, Mr. Rakoff disposed of the remaining copyright claims while allowing Paramount’s claims against Gray to proceed.
“We are pleased with the court’s decision to dismiss Mr. Gray’s claims and allow Paramount’s counterclaim to proceed,” a studio spokesperson said in a statement.
Singer shared the film’s screenwriting credit with Christopher McQuarrie and Ehren Kruger. Singer worked under a standard “works for hire” contract with Paramount, in which the studio retained the copyright to the screenplay. However, Mr. Gray never signed such an agreement and argued that in the absence of such an agreement, he was entitled to copyright his contributions.
