Representative Practice Areas:
• Litigating cases involving claims of patent, trademark, and/or copyright infringement, claims of unfair trade practices and/or anti-trust violations, commercial disputes including warranty, misrepresentation, and breach of contract claims, and a variety of complex business cases.
• Conducting contested administrative proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, including trademark oppositions and cancellations.
• Providing written opinions as to patent validity, infringement and right-to-practice issues.
• Preparing and prosecuting U.S. and international patent applications.
• Managing complex patent portfolios and providing general intellectual property counseling for corporate clients.
Experience:
• Tim is a shareholder at Dority & Manning, having joined the firm in 1999.
• Tim has extensive litigation and trial experience. Prior to joining Dority & Manning, Tim represented clients in both state and federal court in matters that included products liability, construction litigation, insurance defense, personal injury, breach of contract, and bad faith insurance claims.
• He has represented clients in technologies areas that include plasma arc cutting and welding, high speed cartoning machines, laser sorting equipment, soil treatment systems, tire technologies, refrigeration equipment, footwear and apparel, textile machinery, building construction systems, chemical manufacture and processing, lighting control systems, automotive, mining and mineral processing, air pollution control and abatement, utility vehicles, and others.
• Tim’s practice also includes preparation and drafting of infringement and noninfringement opinions, clearance opinions, and the prosecution of patent and trademark applications. Tim has provided testimony in support of written opinions of counsel for clients defending charges of willful infringement.Click here for a list of representative cases.
Professional Background:
• Education: Clemson University (B.S., Chemical Engineering, magna cum laude, 1st in class, 1989); University of Texas, Ph.D. candidate Chemical Engineering (research of polymeric impregnation with supercritical fluids); University of South Carolina (J.D., cum laude, 1994).
• Admitted to Practice: South Carolina; U.S. District Court of South Carolina; U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals Federal Circuit; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• Member: Federal Circuit Bar Association; American Intellectual Property Law Association; Carolina Patent, Trademark & Copyright Law Association (Board of Directors, President 2005-2006).
• Honors: The Best Lawyers in America (Intellectual Property Law); Editor in Chief, South Carolina Law Review 1993-94; Order of the Coif; Order of the Wig and Robe; Moot Court; American Institute of Chemical Engineers Academic Achievement Award.
• Publications: “When Copying Becomes Criminal: The Stiff Criminal Penalties for Copyright Infringement”, South Carolina Lawyer, May 2003, at 32.
• Community Involvement: Graduate, Riley Institute, Diversity Leaders Initiative, Class IX.