Bernhard Geissler covers all fields of intellectual property: litigation, prosecution, licensing. Being exceptionally qualified as attorney-at-law and patent attorney in both Germany and the United States, Bernhard Geissler looks back on an extraordinary career in the legal systems and IP communities of both countries.
Bernhard Geissler has represented leading industrial corporations from the US, Asia and Europe in all technical fields and legal areas of IP. Based on his professional experience as a former head of the Philips Petroleum patent department and his subsequent move to private practice with BARDEHLE PAGENBERG, Bernhard Geissler has gained particular expertise in chemical technologies, as well as in the mechanical, pharmaceutical, biotechnological and electronic fields.
Infringement proceedings before the German courts, oppositions and appeals before the European or German Patent and Trademark Office as well as invalidity proceedings before the German Federal Patent Court and the German Federal Supreme Court have been handled by Bernhard Geissler often in close cooperation with attorneys from other countries. Important litigation cases of Bernhard Geissler involved patents relating to a wide variety of technical and legal issues such as screening processes with cloned cells, specialty polymers, semiconductor manufacturing technologies, software patent pool controversies and the relationship between patents and industrial standards. In addition, Bernhard Geissler acted as an arbitrator in international litigation and counselled the EU Commission in one of the largest IP/antitrust controversies of the last decade.
Bernhard Geissler has published a number of books and articles on many aspects of IP law. In particular, he is, together with Jochen Pagenberg, the author of the bestselling standard textbook "Lizenzverträge, License Agreements", which has been translated into many languages (see publications). He is a regular lecturer on post-graduate courses at the University of Karlsruhe and at the Munich Intellectual Property Law Institute.
| 1963-1965 | Research physicist at the Technical University in Munich in the field of low temperature irradiation of solids in nuclear reactors |
| 1964-1968 | Patent Attorney clerkship in two German patent law firms, the German Patent Office, German Federal Patent Court and the District Court Munich |
| 1968-1971 | Legal Research Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law in Munich |
| 1971-1973 | Patent Attorney at Kalle AG (Farbwerke Hoechst) |
| 1973-1985 | Patent Division of Phillips Petr. Co., Associate General Patent Counsel, |
| since 1985 | Partner of the firm "Bardehle, Pagenberg, Dost, Altenburg, Geissler", Munich,; since 2003 Of Counsel |
| since 2001 | Lecturer on Patent Law at the University of Karlsruhe (TH) |
| since 2003 | Lecturer at the MIPLC on the advanced degree course in IP law |
| 1957-1963 | Studies of Physics at the Technical University of Munich, Germany |
| 1963 | Degree of Diplom-Physiker |
| 1963-1967 | Legal Studies of Law at the University of Munich |
| 1969 | German Patent Attorney Examination; admitted to the German Bar of Patent Attorneys; qualified as European Patent Attorney |
| 1971 | Admitted as German Attorney-at-law |
| 1971 | Degree of Dr. iur. from the University of Munich |
| 1974 | US Patent Bar Examination |
| 1980 | Graduation from George Washington University with a Master of Comparative Law (MCL) degree |
| 1981 | DC Bar Examination and admission to Bar of the District of Columbia |
German, English, French, some Japanese
