UCI Chancellor’s Professor of Law Dan Burk Receives IP Vanguard Award from California Bar
IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 3, 2015 — Dan Burk, Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, will be recognized by the Intellectual Property Law Section of the State Bar of California with a 2015 IP Vanguard Award, given to outstanding legal professionals who are spearheading new developments in the world of intellectual property. The awards ceremony will take place Nov. 12 during the 40th Annual IP Institute in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
“We are honored to present Professor Burk with this esteemed award,” said Deborah Greaves, Chair of the California Bar Intellectual Property Law Section. “Professor Burk was selected to receive the Vanguard Award based on his significant contributions to and impact on IP law through his teachings, published writings and research, his demonstrated outstanding teaching ability, and his demonstrated leadership in the legal profession and the California community.”
An internationally prominent authority on legal and social issues related to high technology, Burk is widely known for his work in patent law, for his work on digital rights management, and for his pioneering analysis of legal control over Internet activity. Some of his most recent work has considered the statutory “policy levers” used by courts to apply patent incentives to industries with diverse innovation profiles, as well as the effect of intellectual property rights on the structure of firms and of industries.
“I am grateful to the Intellectual Property Section of the California Bar for this distinction,” Burk said. “California is home to the very top intellectual property scholars in the nation, many of whom have been recognized as previous recipients of the IP Vanguard Award. It is an honor to join their roster.”
A founding faculty member of UCI Law, Burk is ranked among the top-cited authors in the United States on intellectual property — contributing to UC Irvine’s No. 6 ranking among U.S. law school faculties for scholarly impact in 2015, according to the most recent study. He holds graduate degrees in both molecular biology and in law, and since 1995 has taught courses on patent law, biotechnology law and related areas of IP. His many honors include a 2015 Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professorship at the London School of Economics; a 2014 DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Research Fellowship; and a 2011 Fulbright Scholar grant to pursue research on comparative biotechnology patent processes in Germany.
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