Christian Harmsen is an experienced practitioner in all areas of intellectual property. He mainly focuses on international patent infringement litigation of all technical areas. Over the past years he has lead and coordinated a series of multi-jurisdictional proceedings for clients such as Honeywell, Electrolux, Caterpillar, Dade Behring and Pharmacia. But he also successfully represents mid-cap companies like a German railway company achieving after three instances the brake-through decision of the Federal Supreme Court “Laufkranz” in 2006.

In 2001, Christian was recognized by the leading German lawyers publication JUVE as ”Top 40 under 40” and, thus, one of the leading German lawyers of his generation. In the 2005/2006 edition of the JUVE Handbook, Christian was named as one of the most recommended German lawyers in patent litigation. The 2007 edition of Chambers Global states that clients applauded him for his great experience, creativity and negotiation skills.

Christian completed his legal studies at the University of Hamburg. During his professional training, he practiced at the German Patent and Trademark Office in Munich and worked for the US firm Baker & Hostetler in Palo Alto. He was admitted to the Düsseldorf Bar in 1997 and is a forming partner of Bird & Bird’s presence in Germany, opened 2002 in Düsseldorf.

Christian is a member of the German Intellectual Property and Copyright Association (GRUR) and its technical committees on patents and utility model protection and on the protection of plants. He is also a member of AIPPI, EPLA, LES and AIPLA. He lectures regularly on various themes relating to the practice of intellectual property.