3 Count: Victorious Maverick

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1: Paramount Prevails in Copyright Case by Heirs of Original ‘Top Gun’ Story

First off today, Edvard Pettersson at Courthouse News Service reports that Paramount has emerged victorious in a lawsuit over the 2022 film Top Gun: Maverick. A judge has dismissed the claim that the movie infringed on the 1983 magazine article that inspired the original film.

The lawsuit was filed by authors Shosh and Yuval Yonay in 2022. They alleged that the most recent Top Gun film was based on their 1983 magazine article, noting that Parmount bought the rights to the article to make the 1986 original film. They claimed that Paramount didn’t license the article for the second film, resulting in a copyright infringement.

The judge ruled that there are not enough similarities between the article and the recent film to prove copyright infringement. Further, the judge ruled that any similarities are not protectable by copyright, either because they are common tropes or are simple facts from a non-fiction article.

2: Friday the 13th: Resurrected Canceled Following Copyright Infringement Claim

Next up today, Taylor Lyles at IGN reports that an upcoming mod for the video game Friday the 13th has been cancelled following a cease and desist letter sent by Horror Inc.

The original Friday the 13th video game was delisted from online stores at the end of 2013, with plans to shut down the server fully at the end of this year. The modders behind Friday the 13th: Resurrected had hoped to mod the game to allow users to play after the shutdown by incorporating hosted servers and other fan-made content.

However, those plans have been brought to a halt by the cease and desist letter. The mod developers have cancelled the April 15 release and will focus on other projects.

3: Cox Plans to Take Piracy Liability Battle to the Supreme Court

Finally today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that Cox Communications has announced that they will appeal their ongoing battle with record labels to the Supreme Court.

The labels sued Cox, alleging that the service provider was not taking adequate steps to reduce piracy on its network. A jury awarded the record labels $1 billion in damages, but that amount was overturned on appeal. However, that appeal also continued to hold Cox liable, setting the stage for a new trial on damages alone.

The trial will probably be delayed because Cox plans to appeal the latest decision to the Supreme Court. Cox believes there are significant reasons to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, even though it is uncertain if they will agree to hear it.

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