Professor (K.J.) Greene is a native New Yorker and a former United States Marine. Following graduation from Yale Law School with highest honors, he clerked for Justice James Brickley of the Michigan Supreme Court and was awarded honors for outstanding service to the court. He then practiced law at the premier Wall Street law firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore, where he represented Time-Warner/HBO. He subsequently joined the New York firm of Frankfurt, Garbus, Klein and Selz, where he represented clients in the entertainment industry, including director Spike Lee, the rap group Public Enemy, Geraldo Rivera and singer Bobby Brown.
Since joining the TJSL faculty, Professor Greene has developed a national reputation as an intellectual property scholar, where his work was among the first to explore the intersection of race, culture and intellectual property. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on copyright law, trademark law and celebrity rights of publicity in connection with the music and motion picture industries in journals such as the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Hastings Entertainment and Communications Law Journal, and Syracuse University Law Review, among others. He was selected a “Top Attorney” in San Diego in the field of intellectual property in 2005.
Professor Greene speaks regularly before leading intellectual property law groups, including the Association of American Law Schools, the American Bar Association, the International Trademark Association, the Practicing Law Institute and the Intellectual Property Scholar’s Conference and at leading academic institutions around the country. He has served on the boards of the San Diego chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”) and San Diego Lawyer Magazine, and is an officer of the Soka Gaki Institute (“SGI”), a Buddhist lay organization.
Courses include: Contracts, Entertainment Law and Music Law.
The Right of Publicity: Is the Rent "Too Damn High"?, in Counseling Clients in the Entertainment Industry 2011, 279 (2011)
Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag: James Brown, Innovation, and Copyright Law, African American Culture and Legal Discourse (Lovalerie King & Richard Schur eds., Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)
Intellectual Property at the Intersection of Race and Gender: Or Lady Sings the Blues, 16 Am. U. J. Gender Soc. Pol'y & L. 365 (2008)
Trademark Law and Racial Subordination: From the Marketing of Stereotypes to Norms of Authorship, 58 Syracuse L. Rev. 431 (2008)
There's No Business Like Show Business: Using Multimedia Materials to Teach Entertainment Law, 52 St. Louis U. L.J. 765 (2008)
Intellectual Property Expansion: The Good, the Bad and the Right of Publicity, 11 Chapman L. Rev. 521 (2008)
Copynorms, Black Cultural Production and the Debate over African-American Reparations, 25 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L.J. 1179 (2008)
What the Treatment of African-American Artists Can Teach About Copyright Law, in Peter K Yu, Intellectual Property and Information Wealth: Issue and Practices in the Digital Age (2007)
Abusive Trademark Litigation and the Shrinking Doctrine of Consumer Confusion: Rethinking Trademark Paradigms in the Context of Entertainment Media and Cyberspace, 27 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 609 (2004)
Clearance Issues From a Litigation Perspective: Intellectual Property Infringement and Motion Picture Liability, in 2 Counseling Clients in the Entertainment Industry 255 (Practicing Law Institute, 2001)
Motion Picture Copyright Infringement and the Presumption of Irreparable Harm: Toward a Reevaluation of the Standard for Injunctive Relief, 31 Rutgers L.J. 173 (1999)
Copyright, Culture, and Black Music: A Legacy of Unequal Protection, 21 Hastings Comm & Ent. L.J. 339 (1999)
Terrorism as Impermissible Political Violence: An International Law Framework, 16 Vt. L. Rev. 461 (1992)
Speaker, Academic Boot Camp, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Apr. 2010
Presenter, Copyright, Clearance and Independent Film Production, Phoenix Film Festival, Phoenix, AZ, Apr. 2010
Speaker, Critical Race Theory and Intellectual Property, UCLA Law School Conference on Intersectionality, Los Angeles, CA, Apr. 2010
Speaker, Admitted Students Day, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Mar. 2010
Organized/Moderated, Film Clearance Panel, San Diego Black Film Festival, San Diego, CA, Mar. 2010
Speaker, Common Law Contracts and Black Rock and Blues Artists, Contracts Conference, University of Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, Jan. 2010
Panelist, Intellectual Property Roundtable at the Daily Transcript, San Diego, CA, Jan. 2010
Speaker, Trademarks: A Primer for High Tech Executives, Mintz Levin Law Firm, San Diego, CA, Dec. 2009
Organized/Hosted, Salute to TJSL Veterans, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Nov. 2009
Produced/Hosted, Pay No Attention to the Man behind the Curtain: Ending the Cycle of Abuse Hidden behind the Curtain of the Military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” Policy (with Center for Law and Social Justice and Diana Mryolen), San Diego, CA, Nov. 2009
Produced/Moderated/Hosted, An Evening with Stars: All-Stars of Entertainment (with Entertainment Law Society and Victor Tsoi), San Diego, CA, Nov. 2009
Commentator, U.S. Intellectual History Conference, New York City, NY, Nov. 2009
Keynote Speaker, Trademark Overreaching and Artistic Expression, Paralegal Association on Intellectual Property, San Diego, CA, Oct. 2009
Speaker, ACLU Constitution Day, High Tech High School, San Diego, CA, Sept. 2009
Copyright, Innovation and the Treatment of Black Artists—from the Blues to Hip-Hop, Entertainment Law Section, National Bar Association Annual Conference, San Diego, CA, Aug. 2009
Abusive Trademark Litigation: Caging the Trademark Monster, Thompson Compumark- Telling Your Client “No,” webinar, June 2009
African-American Cultural Production and Artist-Centered Models of IP Protection, Keynote Presenter, National Intellectual Property Empowerment Summit, Howard University Law School, Washington, D.C., Mar. 2009
Women as Global Consumers, Organized and Moderated, Women in Technology International (“WITI”), San Diego, CA, Feb. 2009
Martin Luther King All Community Learning Day, Dor Hadash Synagogue, San Diego, CA, Jan. 2009
Unconscionable Contracts: From Cruise Ship to Motion Picture Contracts, Keynote Speaker, National Contract Management Association, San Diego, CA, Jan. 2009
Trademark Bullies and Abusive Trademark Litigation, Keynote Speaker, 26th Annual National CLE Conference, Vail, CO, Jan 2009
High Tech Middle School on ACLU, Presenter, High Tech Middle Media Arts School, San Diego, CA, Sept. 2008
Trends in Digital Distribution, Production and Advertising, Organizer and Moderator, High-Tech Consortium of Southern California, San Diego, CA, Sept. 2008
What is Entertainment Law, Organizer and Presenter, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA Sept. 2008
IP at the Intersection of Gender and Race, Presenter, 5th Annual IP/Gender Conference, American University School of Law, Washington, D.C. Apr. 2008
Copyright Law and Originality- Lessons from the Blues, Hosier Distinguished Speaker, DePaul University School of Law, Chicago, IL, Mar. 2008
Intellectual Property Expansion and the Right of Publicity, Presenter, 10th Annual Chapman Law Review Symposium, Chapman Law School, Orange, CA, Feb. 2008
Revisiting Abusive Trademark Litigation in the Context of Expressive Works, Creators vs Consumers: The Rhetoric, Reality & Reformation of Intellectual Property Law & Policy Conference, Syracuse University Law School, Syracuse, NY, Oct. 26, 2007
Black Cultural Appropriation, Indigenous Theft and Feminist Critiques of Intellectual Property, LatCrit 12th Annual Conference, Florida International University College of Law, Miami Beach, FL, Oct. 6, 2007
Intellectual Property at the Intersection of Race and Gender - or “Lady Sings the Blues,” Intellectual Property Scholar’s Conference, Depaul University Law School, Chicago, IL, Aug. 2007
Copynorms, the Blues and the Crisis of Copyright Law: How Socio-Economic Theory Can Inform Copyright Reform, AALS Section on Socio-Economics, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., Jan. 2007
Contract Making, Breaking and Damages Hollywood Style, National Contract Management Association, San Diego Chapter, San Diego, CA, Nov. 2006
Black Cultural Appropriation as a Violation of International Norms of Intellectual Property, International Law Association, American Branch, New York, NY, Oct. 2006
Stereotyping and Cultural Devaluation as a Moral Rights Violation, Association of American Law Schools (AALS),Workshop on Intellectual Property, Panel on Moral Rights, Vancouver, Canada, June 2006
Recent Developments in Trademark Law: Apple Computer vs. the Beatles Apple Label, San Diego County Bar Association, Entertainment Law Section, San Diego, CA, May 2006
How to Build a Great Law School, New Student Open House, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Apr. 2006
Remedies and Reparations for Intellectual Property Deprivations, Western People of Color Conference, California Western School of Law, San Diego, CA, Apr. 2006
Black Artistic Production and the Case for Reparations for Intellectual Property Deprivations, Taking Reparations Seriously, Scholarly Conference, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Mar. 2006
Copynorms, Digital Copyright Infringement and Black Music Appropriation, AALS, Washington, DC, Jan. 2006
RIAA Filesharing Lawsuits and Devenses to Copyright Infringement, UCSD, San Diego, CA, Nov. 2005
Using Patent Law Standards to Inform the Law of Ideas, Thomas Jefferson School of Law Patent Law Conference at Qualcomm Corp., San Diego, CA, Nov. 2005
Copyright in the Digital Age, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, CA, Sept. 2005
Defenses to Copyright Infringement for Online File Sharing, UCSD, San Diego, CA, Apr 2005
African-American Reparations and Intellectual Property, Michigan State College of Law, East Lansing, MI, Feb. 2005
So You Want to be an Entertainment Lawyer? Strategies for Breaking Into the Industry, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, CA, Jan. 2005
Organized and Moderated, The Uncertain Future of the Music Industry, TJSL Alumni Event, San Diego, CA, Oct. 2004
Careers in Entertainment Law, Martin Luther King High School, Manhattan, NY, Oct. 2004
Copyright Infringement and Rap Music Production, Youth Workshop on Hip-Hop and Music Industry, Grassroots Artists Movement, Manhattan, NY, Oct. 2004
