About
Litigation lawyer. Toronto. Called to the Ontario bar in 2005.
I have spent my career litigating disputes about creative work: who owns it, who can use it, and what can be said about it.
Before founding Diskin & Co, I was a partner in the Intellectual Property group of a Toronto Seven Sisters firm, and before that a partner at the world’s largest law firm.
My practice focuses on intellectual property and commercial litigation for clients in film and television, music, publishing, media, technology and consumer brands. I act in copyright, trademark and passing-off disputes, defamation and media claims, breach of confidence and misuse of confidential information, civil fraud, business torts and contract disputes. I have obtained injunctions for clients whose confidential business information was taken.
I acted for the defendants in Wiseau Studio, LLC v. Harper, 2020 ONSC 2504, in which the Ontario Superior Court of Justice held that a documentary’s use of clips from the film it examined was fair dealing. The decision is frequently cited on fair dealing in documentary filmmaking.
I also write and speak on litigation finance, on copyright questions raised by software and AI, and on the intersection of privacy, publicity and defamation.
I founded Diskin & Co so that clients get senior counsel directly, from the first call to the last appearance.
- Bar admission
- Ontario, 2005
- Education
- LL.B., Queen’s University
- Law journal
- Editor-in-Chief, Queen’s Law Journal
- Formerly
- Partner at a Toronto Seven Sisters firm
- Has appeared before
- Ontario Superior Court of Justice
- Court of Appeal for Ontario
- Court of Appeal of Alberta
- Court of Appeal for British Columbia
- Federal Court
- Federal Court of Appeal
- Administrative tribunals
- International and domestic arbitrations
Matthew J. Diskin is a lawyer licensed by the Law Society of Ontario.
Recognition
Listed as published by each organization. Rankings reflect the publisher’s methodology.
- The Best Lawyers in CanadaDefamation and Media LawPeer-review recognition, 2021 to present
- The Best Lawyers in CanadaEntertainment LawPeer-review recognition, 2021 to present
- LexpertLitigation: Defamation & MediaRecognized as a “Leading Lawyer”
- IP Stars (Managing IP)Trade Mark StarCanada
Writing & speaking
- 2025Stability AI successfully defends Getty Images’ U.K. copyright infringement claimClient update (co-author)
- 2023Court of Appeal for Ontario upholds employee’s copyright in competing software developed “off the clock”Client update (co-author)
- 2020Understanding the litigation finance ecosystemCanadian Lawyer
- 2020Fair use, fair dealing and the Drake–Jimmy Smith decisionEntertainment & Media Law Signal (co-author)
- 2020Inside the Room Full of SpoonsEntertainment & Media Law Signal, podcast
- 2018“Don’t You Know Who I Am?” Privacy, publicity and defamationIPIC Annual Conference, speaker
- 2013How Social Media Are Transforming LitigationLitigation (ABA Section of Litigation), Vol. 39, No. 2 (co-author); republished in the Best of ABA Sections
The first conversation is about whether litigation is worth it. Tell me briefly what the dispute is about and I will respond after a conflicts check.