Charles A. Grosscurth Intellectual Property Law Chair
School of Law
John T. Cross, J.D., Doctor of Laws, H.C. is professor of law at the School of Law. His teaching interests include various aspects of intellectual property law (including copyright, trademark moral rights, and computer law), conflict of laws, civil procedure, constitutional authority of the federal courts, Canadian constitutional law and Native American law.
Cross has published numerous articles about a wide range of legal issues. Within the field of intellectual property, he concentrates his research in the areas of trademark law, "related rights" such as publicity and moral rights, and on the intersection between intellectual property law and the federal court system. He has testified before Congress and published several works dealing with state infringement of intellectual property rights, a topic that is currently the subject of an intense national debate.
He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Law, Computers, and Artificial Intelligence. He also has published three books on civil procedure and torts to date.
Cross has been named to two Fulbright posts, one in Turku, Finland, in 1995 and a special Fulbright Fellowship dealing with technology law in Dublin, Ireland, in 2000. As a result of his Fulbright in Finland, UofL and the University of Turku will co-host an international conference on intellectual property in the summer of 2008. He also has delivered a number of invited lectures in England, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Finland and Canada.
Cross received his bachelor’s degree at Bradley University in 1981 and his juris doctorate from the University of Illinois in 1984. In 2006 he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Turku, Finland. Prior to joining the law school in 1987, he served for three years in a private law practice in Minneapolis, Minn., where he specialized in real estate, trademark and environmental law.