Attorney Norman B. Gillis

Norman Gillis & Associates, Inc. - Nashville, TN

Norman Gillis is the principal of the law firm of Norman Gillis & Associates, Inc., where he practices in entertainment law, entertainment contracts, music law, intellectual property, copyrights, trademarks, small business and commercial contracts. He is primarily involved in transactional advice and negotiations in entertainment. Mr. Gillis received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Mississippi. He has presented continuing legal education seminars for the National Business Institute, and on extraordinary remedies in trademark protection for the Nashville Bar Association. He is a regular co-speaker for the televised Pensacola, FL program, Music Business and Taxes. Mr. Gillis is a member of the Tennessee, Mississippi and Nashville Bar Associations, is on the Professional Advisory Board for AFTRA, has served on the Faculty Advisory Committee for the International Academy of Design and Technology and is on the legal team for the Artists Music Guild.

Areas of Practice

Entertainment Law; Entertainment Contracts; Music Law; Intellectual Property; Copyrights; Trademarks; Small Business; Commercial Contracts; Wills; Trust Law

Admitted: 1978, Mississippi and U.S. District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi; 1982, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit; 1992, Tennessee Law School: University of Mississippi, J.D.
College: University of Mississippi, B.A., 1975

Attorney Ramona DeSalvo

DeSalvo Law Firm, P.L.L.C. - Nashville, TN

Ramona P. DeSalvo is an attorney who specializes in entertainment law and copyright. After teaching four years as a full time assistant professor at Middle Tennessee State University, College of Mass Communication, Recording Industry Department, Ms. DeSalvo recently returned to private practice at DeSalvo Law Firm PLLC with her new office located in the Germantown area of downtown Nashville. While at Middle Tennessee State University, Ms. DeSalvo taught Copyright, Contracts & Legal Issues in the Recording Industry, and “How to Get a Job in the Entertainment Industry.” While teaching, she also maintained a private practice of law, handling transactional entertainment, copyright and trademark matters. In November 2011 she joined the faculty at Nashville School of Law teaching Entertainment Law and Intellectual Property.

Ms. DeSalvo attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her A.B. degree in Political Science in 1976. She attended the University of San Francisco law school for two years, transferring to the University of Cincinnati, College of Law upon her appointment as a Fellow at the Morgan Institute for Human Rights. Since graduation from law school in 1980, Ms. DeSalvo was admitted to practice in Tennessee, Ohio and California, practicing as a trial attorney for the past 30 years. Pursuing her interest in music, Ms. DeSalvo owned a licensed California talent agency and was a concert promoter and personal manager.

Ms. DeSalvo maintained offices in Carmel, California and Nashville, Tennessee, making the move to Nashville complete in 1997. She maintained a Music Row law practice for several years before joining the entertainment and litigation sections of the Nashville law firm of King & Ballow. She performed transactional entertainment work largely on behalf of songwriters, music publishers and artists, but primarily has been involved in complex copyright litigation matters including In Re Napster litigation, the Bridgeport Music litigation which addressed cutting edge issues in music sampling, and the Eight Mile Style/F.B.T. Productions litigation in Michigan and California, addressing, among other things, unauthorized DPD licensing of musical compositions to digital music providers. Ms. DeSalvo taught Intellectual Property to paralegals for three years at Southeastern Career Institute (now Kaplan Career Institute). She also reviews and edits entertainment/intellectual property law textbooks for West Publishing.

Ms. DeSalvo has been an active member of the Copyright Society of the South for 13 years, and a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Music Row Administrators Group, Nashville Bar Association’s Entertainment Law and Small Firm/Solo Practice Committees, Tennessee Bar Association and California State Bar Association. She organized a trip and accompanied MTSU recording industry students to MIDEM 2010. She is frequently a guest speaker on copyright issues. She was past editor and contributor to the monthly publication, Entertainment Comment, chronicling recent developments in copyright and trademark law.

Attorney Paul Forsyth

Pitts, Lake, Bell, P.C. - Nashville, TN

Paul Forsyth is an associate attorney in the law firm of Pitts, Lake & Bell, P.C., and currently practices primarily in the areas of trademark law and intellectual property litigation. Mr. Forsyth earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence in 2007 from the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he was Publication Editor of the Tennessee Law Review and served as a Judicial Intern for the Honorable Judge Thomas A. Varlan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District to Tennessee.

Mr. Forsyth earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry (with Distinction and with American Chemical Society Certification) from Duke University in 2004.

Mr. Forsyth is licensed to practice law in the State of Tennessee and is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Mr. Forsyth is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He is a member of the Knoxville Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the Tennessee Intellectual Property Law Association, and the American Chemical Society.

Practice Areas

Patent Litigation
Trademark Litigation
Copyright Litigation
Unfair Competition Litigation
Patent Procurement
Trademark Procurement
Copyright Procurement

Bar Admissions

State of Tennessee
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee
United States Patent and Trademark Office

Education and Academic Honors

University of Tennessee College of Law, Doctor of Jurisprudence, 2007
Duke University, B.S., Chemistry (with Distinction), 2004
American Chemical Society Certification
Publication Editor of the Tennessee Law Review
Judicial Intern for the Honorable Judge Thomas A. Varlan

Professional Associations

Tennessee Bar Association
Tennessee Intellectual Property Law Association
American Chemical Society