About Amy J. Everhart

Photo by Tara Vlahos

Amy J. Everhart founded her law firm to counsel individuals and organizations in the creative industries, entrepreneurs, inventors, business owners, and others with legal needs in the areas of trademark, copyright, entertainment, and the internet.

Experience

From 1998 to 2009, Ms. Everhart practiced with Nashville law firm Riley Warnock & Jacobson, PLC, where she focused her practice on commercial litigation, entertainment, copyright, trademark, internet, and other intellectual-property matters. She was named a member of the firm in 2008.

Ms. Everhart has represented recording artists, songwriters, major and independent record companies, music publishers, book publishers, healthcare companies, and other corporate and individual clients in various matters, including copyright and trademark infringement and ownership disputes, unfair competition, Consumer Protection Act, right of publicity, right to privacy, royalty disputes, and contract actions, among others. Ms. Everhart played a significant role in coordinating the joint defense of hundreds of rap-sampling copyright-infringement lawsuits brought simultaneously against major record companies and music publishers in the landmark Bridgeport Music, Inc. litigation in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Ms. Everhart has a broad range of experience representing clients in trademark, copyright, entertainment, and internet matters, including the following:

• The prosecution and defense of trademark applications and opposition proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office;
• Registration of copyrights and the preparation and filing of copyright documents with the U.S. Copyright Office;
• Negotiation and preparation of various trademark, copyright, entertainment, and media contracts and licenses;
• Representation of clients in the publishing industries with respect to potential defamation, copyright, and trademark issues in literary works;
• Representation of minor performers and those that contract with them in matters unique to minors in the entertainment industry, including petitions for approval of minor entertainment contracts under the Tennessee Protection of Minor Performers Act, which Ms. Everhart co-authored;
• Negotiation and drafting of numerous legal documents in internet-related matters, including digital-download license agreements, domain-name purchase agreements, website terms of use, and website-design agreements; and
• Representation of clients with respect to domain-name disputes and cybersquatting issues, including claims in federal court under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and claims through ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.

Community & Memberships

Tennessee Bar Association Entertainment & Sports Law Section

• Chair 2008-2009
• Executive Council Member 2008-2010
• Legislative Committee Chair 2009-2010

Tennessee Bar Association Intellectual Property Section

• Founding Newsletter Editor 2009-2010
• Executive Council Member 2009-2010

Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Law Class of 2008

Belmont University College of Law American Inn of Court, Founding Member

Harry Phillips American Inn of Court Alumna

American Bar Association

• Women’s Advocacy Committee, Newsletter Contributor

Nashville Bar Association

• Solo and Small-Practice Committee, Founding Co-Chair 2009-2010
• Drafting Committee Member, Tennessee Protection of Minor Performers Act

Country Music Association

Women’s Music Business Association

Tennessee Lawyers' Association for Women

• Co-Corresponding Secretary and Newsletter Editor

Lawyers’ Association for Women, Marion Griffin Chapter

• Newsletter Contributor

Volunteer Lawyers and Professionals for the Arts

University of Tennessee Law School and Belmont University, Guest-Lecturer

Bar Admissions

U.S. Supreme Court 2005
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals 1999
Tennessee 1998

Education

Vanderbilt University School of Law 1998

• Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Executive Student Writing Editor
• Dean’s List
• Best Legal Writing Award Recipient

University of North Dakota 1994, summa cum laude

• Phi Beta Kappa
• Outstanding Graduate of School of Communication
  

Interested in Our Firm?

Everhart Law Firm can guide you in protecting the execution of your bright idea, whether the result is a business or product name, a creative work, an Internet presence, or a career in the entertainment industry. Founder Amy J. Everhart has more than a decade of experience as a lawyer in the areas of trademark, copyright, entertainment, and internet law. She founded her firm to offer the experience she gained during her years of mentorship in a larger firm environment with personal and customized attention to your unique legal needs.

>> Contact Everhart Law Firm

About Maria A. Spear

Maria A. Spear is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she majored in Vocal Performance, and Pace University School of Law. Ms. Spear has served as Contracts Manager at Country Music Television for their Artists of the Year program, and the CMT Music Awards. Ms. Spear previously worked at the office of the Arizona Attorney General in the community services department, where she gave presentations across Arizona on identity theft and Internet safety, and at the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies, a non-profit organization in Alexandria, Virginia, where she focused on copyright royalty issues. Ms. Spear assisted on various copyright, trademark and trade-secret litigation matters at Collen, IP, a boutique intellectual property firm in New York, and at Bienstock and Michael, P.C., an intellectual property and entertainment-law firm with offices in New York and New Jersey.

Bar Admissions

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance (2005)
• Member, Dicks and Janes co-ed a cappella
• Member, Maids of Athena philanthropic group
• 3 years academic honors

• Juris Doctor with International Law Certificate (2009)
• Vice President, Sports, Entertainment and Art Law Society
• Member, Intellectual Property Student Organization
• Dean’s list

Community & Memberships

• Entertainment co-chair

• Quarterly contributor

Languages

• Spanish (proficient)
• Greek (basic skills)