Tonya M. Evans is an Associate Professor of Law at the Harrisburg Campus of Widener University School of Law with expertise in the areas of intellectual property, entertainment law (literary and music), municipal finance and trusts & estates. Professor Evans has also served as Adjunct Professor of copyright, publishing and licensing at York College of Pennsylvania. Her current scholarship focuses on the relationship between intellectual property regimes and creative and innovative cultural artifacts. Other works-in-progress explore the development of the fair use doctrine and role of transformation in a fair use determination, and also the intersectionality of race and gender in various contexts. She is a published author of an award-winning series of legal reference guides for writers and publishing industry professionals and was selected by Writer’s Digest Book Club as a club selection for its members. Professor Evans is also a nationally recognized speaker who presents to various audiences regularly on publishing law and intellectual property law. Professor Evans attended Northwestern University on a four-year tennis scholarship, and thereafter she competed on the professional tennis circuit and played most notably in the US Open, Virginia Slims of Philadelphia, and Lipton in 1993. After retiring from the tennis circuit in 1995, she attended Howard University on an academic scholarship. During law school, Professor Evans interned with the Honorable Arthur L. Burnett, Sr. in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia, with U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah and with the Honorable Theodore A. McKee in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Professor Evans also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Howard Law Journal (1997-1998). After graduating with honors, Professor Evans clerked for the Honorable Theodore A. McKee in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for one year and thereafter worked at two national firms in Philadelphia until establishing her own firm in 2002. During that time, she also founded an independent publishing company now known as Legal Write Publications. Professor Evans is also a performance poet and author of two poetry books: Seasons of Her: A Collection of Poetry and SHINE! (book/CD). Additionally, her short story, Not Tonight, appears in an anthology titled Proverbs for the People, published by Kensington. Professor Evans is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania (1998), District of Columbia (1999), New Jersey (1998), Eastern District of Pennsylvania (1999), the Third Circuit (1999) and New York (2006).
Law and Technology
Sampling, Looping, and Mashing … Oh My!: How Hip Hop Music is Scratching More Than the Surface of Copyright Law, Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal (2011)
This article examines the deleterious impact of copyright law on music creation. It highlights hip...
Introduction, Symposium, Internet Expression in the 21st Century: Where Technology & Law Collide (with Michael R. Dimino and Nicole M. Santo), Widener Law Journal (2010)
Computer Law
Introduction, Symposium, Internet Expression in the 21st Century: Where Technology & Law Collide (with Michael R. Dimino and Nicole M. Santo), Widener Law Journal (2010)
Intellectual Property
Reverse Engineering IP, Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review (2013)
For appropriation art of all types to survive an infringement inquiry, the resulting work must...
Sampling, Looping, and Mashing … Oh My!: How Hip Hop Music is Scratching More Than the Surface of Copyright Law, Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal (2011)
This article examines the deleterious impact of copyright law on music creation. It highlights hip...