Find Lawyers in Nashville, Tennessee for Copyright Law
Practice Area Overview
Copyright applies to original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression. An original work of authorship is one that is independently created and includes a minimum level of creativity. Examples of the types of works to which copyrights apply include literary works, drawings, paintings, sculptures, movies, music, video games, and other works of art. Copyright protection also applies to computer software.
Copyright protection does not protect ideas, but protects the expression of an idea. A work does not need to be registered with the Copyright Office to be afforded copyright protection. However, it must be registered with the Copyright Office to bring a lawsuit for copyright infringement. In addition, significant benefits arise from the timely registration of copyrights.
The author of a work is vested with a number of exclusive rights when copyright protection arises. These exclusive rights include, among other things, the right to reproduce (copy), adapt, display, and publicly perform the work. The author may transfer all or some of his or her exclusive rights in the work to another party. For example, the author of a novel may transfer the right to adapt a novel into a screenplay to a movie studio, while still retaining the copyright in the novel itself. Another significant component of copyright law is the area of fair use, which allows use of a copyrighted work without permission in certain limited circumstances (e.g., for the purpose of commenting on or criticizing the work).
Copyright lawyers assist clients with identifying materials that are protectable by copyright, registering copyrightable works with the United States Copyright Office, and counseling clients in the various ways in which copyrights may be acquired, protected, and exploited. Litigation also is a large part of a copyright lawyer’s practice.
Copyright law also addresses issues involving digital rights management, which are measures designed to manage digital copies of works. With the advent of digital copies, some copyright owners seek to restrict the ability to make copies of a particular work. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which is part of U.S. copyright law, prohibits circumventing measures that are designed to prevent copying of copyrighted works. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act also, among other things, provides a framework for online service providers for avoiding copyright infringement based on the acts of the online service provider’s users.
Joel D. Leviton, Co-Chair of Copyright Practice
Kristen McCallion, Co-Chair of Copyright Practice
Fish & Richardson
Tara Aaron-Stelluto is a partner in the Nashville office of Barton LLP, where she practices in the areas of Intellectual Property, Business Transactions, Cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence. Tara helps her clients optimize and protect their most valuable asset – their intellectual property. She focuses on domestic and foreign trademark clearance, prosecution, licensing and enforcement; domain name and UDRP proceedings and other ex parte proceedings against online infringers; copy...
A.J. Bahou is Bradley's Artificial Intelligence (AI) practice leader and an intellectual property attorney who focuses on the intersection of law and technology. A registered patent attorney, trial lawyer, mediator and arbitrator, he has extensive experience in the areas of electrical and computer engineering technologies, including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, medical devices, computer hardware, blockchain, software, and internet security systems. With 20+ years of experience, A...
Mr. Beavers' practice focuses on counseling corporate clients regarding the protection and management of their intellectual property assets, especially patents and trademarks, both in the United States and internationally. Mr. Beavers has 30 years experience in the practice of intellectual property law. He served as General Counsel to Gibson Guitar Corp. from 1995 to 1997. He has filed and prosecuted over one thousand patents in the mechanical arts. Mr. Beavers' current practice is heavily fo...
Michael B. Bressman is Of Counsel with the firm. Additionally, he serves as Professor of the Practice of Law at Vanderbilt Law School, where he has taught a variety of courses such as Contracts, the Law of Cyberspace, and Art Law. Michael directs the law school’s clerkship program, which supports students and graduates applying for post-graduation judicial clerkships. With a career spanning more than 25 years in premier law firms, as in-house corporate counsel, and as a professor at one...
Mr. Johnson’s practice focuses on business transactions, entertainment law, intellectual property, and complex commercial litigation. Mr. Johnson regularly handles copyright and trademark applications, intellectual property licensing, entertainment transactions, and corporate transactions. His clients include music licensing companies, tech companies, and various other businesses, for which he serves as a business advisor and outside general counsel. He also has extensive experience in ...
Ryan D. Levy is the managing shareholder at Patterson Intellectual Property Law and co-chairs the firm’s Litigation Practice Group. He is an accomplished litigation attorney focusing on complex patent disputes in a variety of technologies, including industrial and automotive machinery, chemical, medical devices, and software ranging from web-based protocols to automated detection systems. Ryan has a wide range of litigation experience before federal district courts, the U.S. Internation...
Richard Myers is a Registered U.S. Patent Attorney. His practice focuses on patent-related aspects of intellectual property, including counseling clients on patent infringement, patent validity, and patentability. He has more than two decades of experience with the patent prosecution process. As a former patent examiner and an attorney in the private sector, he has examined or prosecuted over 600 patent applications. With an academic background in chemistry, Richard's practice primarily focus...
Mr. Patterson is an experienced patent practitioner and trial attorney. His primary practice involves the writing and prosecution of patent applications in the electrical, electronic, and computer software arts including business methods; patent, trademark and copyright counseling, including preparing validity and infringement opinions; licensing; and litigation in all areas of intellectual property law. He has assisted clients in obtaining over 200 U.S. patents. From 1973 to 1977 Mark Patter...
Phil Walker focuses his practice on intellectual property counseling, including the procurement and enforcement of patents, trademarks, and copyrights. He counsels his clients on the economic benefits and implications of intellectual property protection and litigation. Phil advises his clients in the evaluation and protection of complex technologies, including inventions in the mechanical, medical, telecommunications, optical, materials, chemical, computer software and Internet business arts....
Alexandra Badalamenti is an intellectual property attorney whose practice focuses on media and entertainment transactions. Alexandra represents artists, musicians, image creators, and innovators in production, fashion, music, and media. Alexandra counsels her clients on a variety of matters, including brand partnerships, commercial endorsements, music festivals, experiential activations, talent representation, licensing partnerships, and literary publishing.
Alex Huffstutter is a registered patent attorney who focuses his practice on electrically based patent prosecution and mechanically based patent prosecution. Licensed to practice in Tennessee and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, his experience includes recent technical innovations in electrical engineering, graphene synthesis, and hydroponic inventions for the burgeoning cannabis industry. Alex also prosecutes design patents for clients operating in a range of industries.
Casey Miller represents clients in a variety of commercial litigation and dispute resolution matters. She has a diverse practice focused on business tort litigation, contract disputes, fiduciary-duty claims involving corporate directors and officers, intellectual property litigation, securities litigation, disputes over non-compete and non-solicitation agreements, and real estate litigation. She practices in both state and federal courts across the country. Casey also represents organizations...
Jake Neu is your attorney for any intellectual property counseling need. Jake’s clients trust him across a wide range of IP matters involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets for protecting anything from retail consumer products to software and websites. With this broad background, Jake acts as outside IP general counsel for a number of his clients who do not have an in-house IP counsel. For those with IP counsel, Jake provides advice on the latest strategies for prote...
Keaton Osborne’s practice focuses on commercial finance and intellectual property. In his commercial finance practice, Keaton assist lenders and borrowers in a variety of commercial lending transactions, such as acquisition financings, asset-based loans, and real estate development and construction loans. In the last 12 months, he has closed over $1 billion in commercial finance transactions. Keaton also counsels clients on trademark clearance, registration and enforcement in a variety ...
Farrah Usmani advises recording artists, songwriters, entertainment executives and companies in the music industry. She is well-versed in helping artists grow their careers while maintaining creative control and ownership of their intellectual property. Further, she has substantial experience structuring tour deals in the concert business. Farrah is admitted to practice in Tennessee and is a provisionally licensed lawyer in California. She is not fully licensed in California and is supervised...
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