Research Interests

Dr. Torsten Bjørn Larsen is Professor at the Department of Law, University of Southern Denmark. Torstens fields of reseach cover broader parts of both private and procedural law including contract law, law of obligations and IP law. Also Torstens research covers how the use of technology and software can assist the legal profession. 

Torsten graduated cum laude from University of Copenhagen in 2004. He became Master of European Intellectual Property Law (LLM) from Stockholm University in 2006. In 2014 he was awarded the PhD degree by the University of Copenhagen on a thesis on IP strategies. Torsten was admitted to the Danish bar in 2009. 

Torsten was for several years employed with the tier-1 law firms Bird & Bird, Bech-Bruun and Plesner. Torsten has prepared and/or litigated several high-profiled court cases over the years. Torsten has been on several research stays, inter alia, as a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute für Innovation und Wettbewerb in Munich. 

Torsten is the author of several books, inter alia, what is considered the leading book on procedural IP strategies, which is now published at Edward Elgar Publishing and numerous (45+) book chapters and articles in leading national and international journals, inter alia, Gewerblicher Rechtsshutz and Unheberrecht, Internationaler Teil (GRUR-Int), Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (JIPLP), European Intellectual Property Review (EIPR), Journal of Private International Law (JPIL), Public Procurement Law Review (PPLR) and Nordiskt Immateriellt Rättsskydd (NIR).

Torstens work is regularly referred to by Danish courts and by the Advocate Generals at the European Court of Justice, inter alia, in case C-172/18, AMS Newe, para 24 and case C-18/18, Glawischnig, para 43. 

Torsten chairs seminars and holds courses in Denmark and abroad. 

Administration

• Administrative functions: Head of research, Department of Law, SDU (2022-2025), Business Law responsible, Department of Law, SDU (2020-), Member of the PhD Committee, Department of Law, SDU (2020-), Member of Appeal Board, Department of Law, SDU (2020-) and member of the Steering Committee, Department of Law, AAU (2020).
• Research management: Co-Pi in the project "Scalable Consumer Content in the Future Digital Environment" with Karlstad University (Sweden) and Hanken University (Finland) granted by Nordic Innovation with 1.800.000 NOK. The purpose of the project was to point at best practice for certain IP contracts in the Nordic region. The project was completed in 2018.
• PhD assessments: "Flyforordningens artikel 5, stk. 3 - en undtagelse til passagerens kompensationsret" 2021 (chairman) and "Modervirksomhedens udøvelse af koncernledelse" 2017 (member). 
• Associate Professor assessments: 2022 (chairman). 
• PhD supervision: Daniel Skov (2021-2024), Lesley Akua Twum Wittendorff (2024-). 
• Assistent professor supervision: Bjørn Holtze. 
• Co-examiner: Appointed as co-examiner at every law studies in Denmark.
• Peer-reviewer: Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (Oxford University Press), Nordiskt Immateriellt Rättsskydd (NIR), Journal of Media, Culture & Technology, Karnov Group and Ex Tuto Publishing. 
• Organizer of seminars: "The ESS and the Law" (2016), "Trademark Theft" (2011) and "Counterfeit in Practice" (2009). 

Teaching 

• University of Southern Denmark: Law of obligations, IP Law and legal method.
• Stockholm University: Master of European Intellectual Property Law (LLM).
• Lunds University: Intellectual Property and Trade.
• Dansk Institut for Immaterialretsuddannelse: IP law, advanced IP law and IP contracts.

Memberships

• Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP).
• Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle (AIPPI).
• Association of Danish Intellectual Property Attorneys (ADIPA)
• Nordic Group for Private International Law (NGIL).
• Dansk Selskab for Ophavsret.
• Foreningen Industriel Retsbeskyttelse (FIR).
• IPenforce.
• IPR Nord.
• Nordic Network Meetings.