I am sorry to report that Prof. Guo Shoukang 郭寿康, the UNESCO Professor of Copyright Law, emeritus, at Renmin University, died Monday March 22 at 12:35 PM.  Prof. Guo was in his late 80’s.

Prof. Guo taught and inspired generations of Chinese law students and officials.

I would like to share a few moments from the many years of interaction and friendship I had with him:

I was privileged to attend the 65^th anniversary of his teaching law in the fall of 2013.  At that time, I was told of how he advocated for a patent law for China in the early 1980’s at the National People’s Congress, when many members were opposed.  I was also told that many officials, such as former SIPO Commissioner Tian Lipu, considered him their teacher.  Moreover, his record of teaching law streteched back to the late 1940’s, when he was a young teacher at Peking University.

I was honored to join him in an interview on CCTV on globalization in IP.   If you go to 5:20 on this video, you will find Prof. Guo continuing his role as a passionate advocate for intellectual property, and countering the arguments advanced by CCTV that intellectual property is a barrier to the development of science and technology.

Even in his mid and late 80’s he was always active and contributing.  I have a copy of his translation of Mihaly FIcsor’s book on Law of Copyright and the Internet which he prepared in 2009 (1125 pp.).  He also continued to advise graduate students even in his later years.

On a personal level, I enjoyed the pleasure of Prof. Guo at a Passover seder at my house in 2007 when I was a diplomat based in Beijing.  I can’t imagine anyone more intellectually curious.

Guo Shoukang – scholar, gentleman, mentor and friend.  Rest in peace.