Kevin J. Greene

Kevin Jerome Greene (b.in New York City, New York) is a professor of contract music law and entertainment law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California. Professor Greene was the first legal scholar to examine the treatment of African-American art forms, such as the blues, under intellectual property law.

Greene began his undergraduate studies at Morehouse College in Atlanta, then left to join the U.S. Marines, where he was assigned to an F-4 Phantom jet squadron in the Far East. After completing his Marine Corps service with honors, he received his B.A. at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, and his J.D. at Yale Law School and then clerked for James H. Brickley of the Michigan Supreme Court. While at the Wall Street Law firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore, he represented Time-Warner/HBO and subsequently practiced entertainment law in New York at Frankfurt, Garbus, Klein & Selz. Representative clients included film director Spike Lee, singer Bobby Brown, and the rap group Public Enemy. In 2005, Greene was voted by peers in the bar as one of the top ten attorneys in San Diego county in the area of Intellectual Property Law. In 2009, Greene tied for first place in the annual bar-sponsored charity comedy contest "Laf-off" ("Lawyers are Funny").

Articles

• "Idea Theft as a Hollywood Business Model: Toward Optimal Standards for Idea Misappropriation in the Entertainment Context, " John Marshall Intellectual Property Law Journal, 2010
• "Intellectual Property at the Intersection of Race and Gender: Or Lady Sings the Blues," AmericanUniversity.Journal of Gender in Society. Policy & Law, v.16: 365 (2008)
• "Trademark Law and Racial Subordination: From the Marketing of Stereotypes to Norms of Authorship," Syracuse Law Review v.58: 431 (2008)
• "There's No Business Like Show Business: Using Multimedia Materials to Teach Entertainment Law," St. Louis University Law Journal. 52:765 (2008)
• "Intellectual Property Expansion: The Good, the Bad and the Right of Publicity," Chapman Law Review 11:521 (2008)
• "Copynorms, Black Cultural Production and the Debate over African-American Reparations," Cardozo Arts & Ent. Law Journal. 25:1179 (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," Harvard Journal of Journal of Law & Public Policy 27:609 (2004)
• "Clearance Issues From a Litigation Perspective: Intellectual Property Infringement and Motion Picture Liability," in Counseling Clients in the Entertainment Industry 2: 255 (Practicing Law Institute, 2001)
• "Motion Picture Copyright Infringement and the Presumption of Irreparable Harm: Toward a Reevaluation of the Standard for Injunctive Relief," Rutgers Law Journal 31:173 (1999)
• "Copyright, Culture, and Black Music: A Legacy of Unequal Protection," Hastings Communications & Entertainment Law Journal 20: 339 (1999)
• "Terrorism as Impermissible Political Violence: An International Law Framework," Vermont Law Review. 16:461 (1992)