Background
Judge King was born in Shanghai, China.
Judge King was born in Shanghai, China.
University of California, Los Los Angeles University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1971 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Southern California School of Law in 1974. He was in private practice in Los Angeles, California from 1974 to 1975. He was an assistant United States. Attorney for the Central District of California from 1975 to 1979.
Judge 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. In 1987, Judge King became a United States Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California.
On April 27, 1995, President Bill Clinton nominated Judge King to be a District Court Judge for the Central District of California, a new seat created by statute. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 30, 1995, and received his commission the same day.
He became Chief Judge on September 14, 2012.
In perhaps his most famous ruling, Chief Judge King granted summary judgment in the case of Rupa Marya v. Warner/Chappell Music Incorporated. in favor of the plaintiffs, holding that defendants had no valid copyright in the song Happy Birthday, in a decision filed September 22, 2015.