Arwen R. Johnson

A large portion of Arwen Johnson’s practice is advising and litigating for media and entertainment companies, such as Netflix and Warner Bros. She also litigates for technology companies and other businesses, especially in trade secrets matters. That work “is a nice compliment for the IP work I do for the studios,” Johnson said.

One high-profile tech lawsuit has consumed much of her time lately. She is a leading member of an all-woman trial and appellate team representing Applied Materials Inc., which makes machines used to manufacture microchips, in tangled litigation against a Chinese competitor and former employee.

The team’s first task was defeating the competitor’s demand for a preliminary injunction. The evidentiary to do that consumed 11 court days. Their victory is now on appeal, and the superior court case is stayed. Applied Materials Inc. v. Lai, 22cv007997 (Ala. Super. Ct., filed March 7, 2022).

Meanwhile, Johnson is also representing the client in an arbitration against the former employee. She compared the case to 3D chess because she must always consider “how … one of those matters impacts the others.”

Many of her cases for entertainment industry clients involve allegations of “idea theft” in suits for breach of implied contract. “It’s a very Hollywood idea,” she said, in which someone pitches a story to a studio or creator but later learns of a nearly identical work in production.

Johnson successfully defended Warner Bros.’ demurrer to such a case on appeal early this year. The plaintiff accused the studio and others of stealing his unpublished novel for the Ben Aflek film, “The Accountant.” Mosher v. Warner Bros., B312661 (Cal. App. 2nd, dec’d Feb. 23, 2023).

Now, she is defending the studio’s summary judgment against a claim it and others used another plaintiff’s screenplay in making the 2018 comedy “Life of the Party.” Johnson compared that plaintiff’s allegations about how the defendants came across his screenplay to the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Kowalski v. Gersh Agency Inc., B327335 (Cal. App. 2nd, filed March 2, 2023)

She also is leading the defense for Netflix, Michael B. Jordan and others against a claim that the TV series and comic book “Raising Dion” infringe that plaintiff’s copyright in his novel. Price v. Netflix Inc., 2:22-cv-00627 (C.D. Cal. filed June 28, 2022).

Johnson said she really enjoys explaining to courts how a challenged work is not substantially similar as a matter of law to a plaintiff’s copyrighted work. “I was an English and French double major in college, and I did a lot of literary analysis and film studies,” she explained. “I’m very grateful that I now live in Los Angeles and work for studios and get to have that be part of my practice.”

— Don DeBenedictis