The University of New Hampshire School of Law is deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Professor Emeritus Karl F. Jorda. He was 87 years old. The entire UNH Law community offers its most sincere condolences to Jorda’s family.
“Karl was a titan in the world of intellectual property law,” said Jordan Budd, Interim Dean at UNH Law. “He was also sincere and kind-hearted, and a tremendous mentor to our students and faculty. He left an immensely positive imprint on UNH Law. Everyone here is lucky to have called him a colleague and a friend.”
Jorda, a longtime professor, leaves a significant legacy at UNH Law. The school created the Karl F. Jorda Scholarship, awarded to highly-qualified STEM students who plan to pursue patent law or other IP specialties, in his honor, and established the Karl F. Jorda Conference Room in the Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property in his name in 2013.
Jorda’s tremendous impact on intellectual property law was recognized internationally. He was inducted into the global Intellectual Property Hall of Fame in October of 2007 for his “outstanding contribution to the development of intellectual property law and practice, thereby helping to establish intellectual property as one of the key business assets of the 21st century.”
Additionally, he was the recipient of the 1996 Jefferson Medal of the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association (NJIPLA), considered by many the highest honor in intellectual property in America, for his “extraordinary contributions to the US intellectual property law system,” and also received the 1989 Pacific Intellectual Property Association (PIPA) medal for “Outstanding Contributions to International Cooperation in the Intellectual Property Field.”
Over the course of his career, Jorda served as a member of the Board of Directors, Council, or Executive Committee of: the American Intellectual Property Law Association; the American Bar Association, Intellectual Property Section; the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel; Intellectual Property Owners; the International Trademark Association; and the International Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPPI United States).
