TERRY GROSS (terry@gbcounsel.com) has engaged in significant complex litigation around the country on behalf of private clients and several civil liberties organizations, such as the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, the Bill of Rights Foundation, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. For example, Mr. Gross was part of the criminal defense team which represented Leona Helmsley in her prosecution for income tax evasion, and, among other things, was responsible for the successful motion to dismiss her state prosecution on double jeopardy grounds. He represents several non-traditional religions in various types of litigation raising issues of religious freedom, due process, and improper government activity, both in affirmative lawsuits and in defending damage lawsuits by ex-members. He has been special counsel in criminal cases on constitutional issues, and engages in general litigation for private clients, e.g., he represented Dr. Spock in a breach of contract action relating to a video on child care; he represented and advised Leona and Harry Helmsley in a variety of civil lawsuits, liquor and real estate licensing proceedings, and contracts. He litigated a First Amendment and equal protection challenge to the large-scale relocation of Navajo elders from their ancestral homelands at Big Mountain, Arizona; a successful challenge to Pan American World Airways' policy during the Gulf War against granting passage to any Iraqi nationals; and represented the widow of Salvador Allende, the slain president of Chile, in the first successful challenge to the government's ideological exclusion policy.
Mr. Gross' first degree and career was in computer science which has served to dovetail in matters of intellectual property. He was a systems programmer for IBM, a systems analyst at University of California Medical Center and the director of data processing for a local governmental agency. He represented one of the world's largest watch manufacturers involved in trademark infringement litigation; the Estate of Norma Millay Ellis relating to the sale of the literary properties of Edna St. Vincent Millay; and a French biotechnology company in litigation relating to the sublicense of patent rights, and in contract negotiations about the sale of biotechnology development rights; and actively advises and litigates on trademark and copyright issues. He has represented authors, artists, performers and their agents in negotiating contracts for publication, performance, and sale of motion picture and television rights.
Mr. Gross has been active in Internet law for many years. As counsel to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties organization focusing on electronic communications and new technology, he advised and litigated on numerous technology issues. As special counsel in the successful defense of an individual who disseminated a magazine via e-mail over the Internet accused of wire fraud for publishing a document obtained by computer hackers, before the Internet was widely used, Mr. Gross raised constitutional issues concerning the rights of publishers, both electronic and print, to disseminate information lawfully obtained by them. He recently successfully defended an Internet service provider sued by a software industry group for copyright infringement based on the actions of the provider's customers. He was a director of the International Society for Technology in Education. He represented content providers in negotiations with networks, advised on domain name disputes and litigated jurisdictional issues raised by Internet activity.
A significant portion of Mr. Gross' practice centers around matters of defamation and privacy. Mr. Gross advises media entities on defamation and libel clearance. He actively represents plaintiffs in defamation cases involving national and local news media. In addition, he actively represents clients prior to the publication of potentially inflammatory articles in negotiations with news media to ensure that accurate information is published.
In the international law area, Mr. Gross was lead counsel and adviser to the Republic of Panama, its agencies and its Mission to the United Nations in 1989 when the United States government froze all Panamanian assets; represented a foreign telephone company in negotiating an underwater cable construction and maintenance agreement and telephone service agreement with AT&T, and represented the Cuban Olympic Committee and the Cuban television agency in the negotiations to sell the television rights to the 1991 Pan American Games. In addition, he represented several foreign companies in contract negotiations with U.S. companies and in matters relating to their U.S. subsidiaries. Further, he provides advice and obtains licenses for transactions with countries subject to trading restrictions.
Terry Gross is also active in plaintiffs' class action cases. He was lead counsel for Manybeads v. United States, a class action involving the elders of the Navajo Tribe. He was liaison counsel and settlement class counsel in Perish v. Intel Corporation, a winning consumer fraud class action. He is Co-Chair of the Steering Committee in the Microsoft Antitrust Class Action Litigation, based on Microsoft's monopolization of the personal computer operating systems and software market. He was counsel in In re Airline Ticket Commission Antitrust Litigation, an antitrust action which challenged the airlines' reduction of travel agent commissions, resulting in an $87 million settlement; is lead counsel in Lea v. Pacific Bell, a consumer fraud and unfair competition class action; is counsel in the Old Republic Title Company Class Action Litigation (executive committee), an unfair competition and consumer fraud class action; and is counsel in the Flat Glass Antitrust Litigation (executive committee); the Sanitary Paper Antitrust Litigation; the Vitamin Cases Antitrust Litigation (steering committee); the Cosmetics Antitrust Litigation (steering committee), antitrust actions challenging pricefixing in the glass, sanitary paper, cosmetics and vitamin industries; and the Providian Class Action Litigation (executive committee), an unfair competition, false advertising and consumer fraud action.
Mr. Gross also litigates in the area of legal ethics, representing attorneys facing bar complaints or discipline, and also in litigating legal malpractice cases. Mr. Gross actively handles appeals in all the areas his practice, as well as criminal appeals. A significant portion of Mr. Gross' practice also involves the areas of antitrust, consumer fraud, commercial law and employment discrimination.
Mr. Gross is counsel to, and formerly a partner at, Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman, P.C., of New York.
Born Flushing, New York, February 19, 1948; admitted to bar, 1980, Oregon; 1982, California and U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; 1984, New York, U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan; 1988, U.S. Supreme Court; 1993, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit and United States District Court, Northern, Eastern and Central Districts of California. Education: Brown University (A.B., Computer Science, 1968); University of Oregon; Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (J.D., 1980). Associate Editor, California Law Review, 1978-80. Author: "Robeson v. State: The Right to Prearrest Silence," 67 California Law Review 1205, 1980. Systems Programmer, IBM New York Scientific Center, 1968-69; Systems Analyst, University of California Medical Center at San Francisco, 1969-70; Data Processing Manager, Lane County Department of Transportation, 1972-76; Law Clerk to Hon. Otto R. Skopil, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1980-82; Partner and Associate, Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman, P.C., New York, New York, 1983-1993. Member, American Civil Liberties Union, 1982-present. Director, International Society for Technology in Education, 1992-1995. Advisory Committee, First Annual Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy, 1991. Member, Bar Association of San Francisco (Member: Intellectual Property Section; Superior Court Early Settlement Program; Legal Ethics Section); State Bar of California (Member: Committee on Federal Courts, 1994-1997; Intellectual Property Section; Litigation Section); New York State Bar Association; National Lawyers Guild (Executive Board, San Francisco Chapter, 1994-1997; Executive Committee, New York City Chapter, 1990-1993).
