February 08, 2024

Dan Burk

The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law community – and the entire American legal academic community – mourns the loss of Dan L. Burk, who passed away on Feb. 4. 

Burk earned his Juris Doctor from ASU Law in 1990 and went on to become a leading intellectual property law scholar, renowned across the country. He was a founding faculty member at The University of California, Irvine School of Law, and was instrumental in its development and success. 

Prior to joining UCI Law, Burk taught at the University of Minnesota Law School and Seton Hall University School of Law.

He published dozens of scholarly articles and served as the faculty director of UCI’s AI Global Public Policy Institute. With an interest in science and technology, Burk’s research focused on issues related to patent, copyright, electronic commerce, and biotechnology law. He was a leading figure in national debates over gene patenting, digital copyright and computer trespass. Impressively, Burk was a two-time recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship and studied in Germany and the United Kingdom. 

As part of the 15th anniversary of the founding of UCI Law, the school will hold a celebration of Burk’s legal contributions on Friday, Feb. 9. The all-day event will feature panels of academics addressing his work on patent law, the internet, intellectual property and gender, and intellectual property and social theory.

ASU Law is lucky to count him among our illustrious alumni, and we send our condolences to his family.

Read more from UCI Law: https://news.law.uci.edu/2024/02/04/in-memoriam-remembering-dan-l-burk/ 

Written by Lindsay Walker