As a sitting judge, mediator, arbitrator, and discovery referee, Judge Diane Wayne has extensive experience with a wide range of entertainment issues, including profit participation, royalty, copyright, use of name or likeness, breach of contract, prior restraint, unfair competition, and trademark infringement within the motion picture, television, and music industries.
Representative Matters
- Entertainment Employment:
- Claims of sexual harassment and racial discrimination against a major studio regarding advertising campaign content
- Defamation claim between talent and foreign investors
- Failure to promote based on racial discrimination of executives within the entertainment industry
- Film studio wrongful termination with racial and sexual discrimination issues such as offensive materials and pornography
- Sexual harassment claims against celebrities
- Financial/Breach of Contract:
- Anita Baker v. BNB, a suit in which a prominent vocalist sues her promoters
- Breach of contract between producer and foreign investors for failure to provide contractual movie financing
- Fee disputes between actor and agents
- Ivan Rene Moore v. Ronald Isley and Warner Bros., interference with prospective economic damages, and breach of contract over ownership of songs
- Loss of profits due to embezzlement by senior studio executive
- Multimillion dollar contract dispute between entertainment service providers
- Profit participation dispute between production company and talent
- Profit sharing conflict between actors and studios
- Rights to infomercial profits
- Royalty claims by heirs against major film studio
- Settled partnership dissolution of Beach Boys and Brian Wilson
- Intellectual Property:
Credit entitlement dispute between writers
- Elizabeth Taylor v. NBC, a suit to enjoin the network from airing a story about the actress
- Managed copyright dispute with Writer's Guild over entitlement to script proceeds after a partnership dissolution
- Proscribed use of trade secrets between theatrical distributors
- Shewmake v. Michael Landon, a copyright violation claim regarding script for television feature film
- Tracy Ullman v. 20th Century Fox, regarding the rights to The Simpson's television show
- Unauthorized use of likeness in television commercial
