George Herbert King (born October 12, 1951) is a former

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a United States district court, federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in South ...

Education and career

King was born in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, China. He received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

in 1971 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

USC Gould School of Law The University of Southern California Gould School of Law located in Los Angeles, California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Or ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

in 1974. He was in private practice in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

from 1974 to 1975. In 1971 he was a personnel clerk for

Coca-Cola Bottling Company Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc., headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the United States. The company makes, sells and distributes Coca-Cola products along with other beverages, distributing to ...

. From 1972 to 1975 he served as a law clerk and an associate for three different law firms. He was an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

for the Central District of California from 1975 to 1979. King returned to private practice from 1979 to 1986. At the same time, he acted as a hearing examiner for the Los Angeles Police Commission from 1980 to 1982.

Federal judicial service

In 1987, King became a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

for the Central District of California. On April 27, 1995, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

nominated King to be a United States District Judge for the

, to a new seat created by 104 Stat. 5089. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on June 30, 1995, and received his commission the same day. He served as Chief Judge from September 14, 2012, to June 30, 2016. He retired on January 6, 2017.

Notable case

In perhaps his most famous ruling, King granted summary judgment in the case of ''Rupa Marya v. Warner/Chappell Music Inc.'' in favor of the plaintiffs, holding that defendants had no valid copyright in the song '' Happy Birthday'', in a decision filed September 22, 2015.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, George Herbert 1951 births Living people Assistant United States attorneys Chinese emigrants to the United States Judges of the United States District Court for the Central District of California People from Shanghai United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton United States magistrate judges University of California, Los Angeles alumni USC Gould School of Law alumni 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges

Education and career

Federal judicial service

Notable case

See also

References

Sources