Legal Question in Entertainment Law in New York

I feel this issue needs the background story:

My relationship with Edward Salvino of Maxx Entertaiment began in July 2009. He was referred to me by a friend of a friend when I was exploring international touring. He claimed to be the owner of a media company, Maxx Entertainment, a company I was somewhat familiar with. He claimed to be a key player in the creation of a few entertainment properties such as Runaway Squad on A&E, Dora the Explorer and various bands and live shows. He took an interest in my show The Love Show.

I had been extensively touring The Love Show around North America for the past 7 years and wanting to create an opportunity, such as an Off-Bway run to raise the level of the brand/visibility so that I could elevate our touring experience and ultimately increase our fees. I felt that a healthy Off- Broadway run would achieve this. Mr. Salvino saw my vision and agreed to help produce an Off Bway run.

For the past 7 years I had invested over $50,000 to fully produce, write and brand The Love Show. Mr. Salvino had no hand in the creation of financing of any of the content. For Mr. Salvino to become a fully invested partner in this venture, it was essential that he bring an equal amount to the table. I created a modest budget for the show, that included marketing, promotion and advertising plus production fees - cast/crew salaries and theater rental. Mr. Salvino was confident of his ability to fundraise but ultimately failed to do so, he was able to obtain somewhere between 5K-10K. This did not match my investment and was far below any self-respecting Off-Broadway budget. He had a hired a PR agency and promotion company very late in the game. They worked very hard to make the show visible but could only do so much. Soon it became clear the Mr. Salvino was not paying these companies as I would receive multiple threatening phone calls from them when Mr. Salvino proved evasive. To make matters worse, the cast/crew members checks were regularly bouncing, straining my relationship with them. I ended up being financially responsible for paying the cast and several promoting outlets. During the run of the show, I chose not to receive a salary in order to get the show off the ground. Mr. Salvino would constantly exhibit manic and bullying behavior towards me, the cast and the theater staff. He would construct various schemes to achieve deals with the theater, media contacts and possible producing partners that were poorly executed and produced more confusion than anything viable. The theater liked the production and expressed interest in extending the show, however did not want to continue if Mr. Salvino remained involved. I chose not to extend the show and closed the show on early January 2010.

From the outset, I created a contract between Mr. Salvino and myself, which included language about being an equal partner and the need for him to come to the table with an equal amount as what I had already spent in the creation and branding of the show. This contract was ignored and not signed. He then gave me a combined management, publishing and production contract between his Maxx Entertainment business partner Matthew Steinberg and myself, which included Draconian language regarding owning my publishing rights and not offering much in return. I went over the contract with a fine tooth comb and queried most of it. We eventually met with his business partner and it was clear Mr. Steinberg was not going to offer anything for my publishing rights. He was shocked I read the contract. I returned the contract to them unsigned and said that I would be willing to consider a production deal for The Love Show. I never received another contract.

After the show closed, I had several options for Mr. Salvino to recoup his cost. One was for him to personally get the show booked out of town at high paying venues such as casinos and/or cruises. He was certain of his ability to book the show but ultimately did not book anything.Then there was interest from a production company to do a television special for The Love Show. Mr. Salvino was very interested in pursuing this. However, I gave Mr. Salvino an ultimatum that if he wanted to continue working with me, the manic and abusive behavior would have to cease. He agreed but did not put this into practice. There were several other incidences that followed where Mr. Salvino would resort to not taking responsibility and being completely unprofessional, putting myself, my property and business relationships in peril. In July 2010, I decided that I needed to permanently cut ties with him.

Upon uploading to my personal youtube page, I noticed that Mr. Salvino company had claimed ownership over my content. He had no involvement in creating or financing of any of the content. I asked him to remove ownership and he has refused. He is profiting off of the ads on the page and he claims to be entitled to it. I have tried to reach youtube with no luck. My next step is to dismantle my page if I cannot get him to remove ownership. Mr. Salvino claims that there is documentation between him and I, there is not. I want to have a legal professional contact his lawyer and make certain of this. Mr. Salvino has claimed to own the trademark of The Love Show, but a lexus nexus search has turned up no such ownership. I want this individual completely out of my life/business affairs and to send a clear message to him that I am not interested in pursuing any ventures further with him.

I would also like to figure out how to legally remove his ownership of my youtube content and anything else he claims to own. How do I go about doing this?

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