Tim F. Williams
Principal
vCard
Licensed to practice in:
South Carolina, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
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.
- Preparing and prosecuting U.S. and international patent applications.
- Conducting contested administrative proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, including post grant review proceedings (e.g. inter partes review of U.S. patents) and trademark oppositions.
- Providing written opinions as to patent validity, infringement and right-to-practice issues.
- Managing complex patent portfolios and providing general intellectual property counseling for corporate clients.
Experience:
- Joining the firm in 1999, Tim has extensive experience in the litigation of intellectual property matters including patent, trademark, and copyright disputes in various federal courts. Prior to joining Dority & Manning, Tim represented clients in both state and federal courts in matters that included products liability, construction litigation, insurance defense, personal injury, breach of contract, and bad faith insurance claims. Click here for a list of representative cases.
- Tim has represented clients in technology areas that include plasma arc cutting and welding, consumer appliances, high speed cartoning machines, plastic processing equipment, semi-conductors, water treatment, 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.
- His practice also includes preparation and drafting of infringement and non-infringement 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.
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).
- Admission: U.S. District Court of South Carolina; U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals Federal Circuit.
- Civic and Community Service: Federal Circuit Bar Association; American Intellectual Property Law Association; Carolina Patent, Trademark & Copyright Law Association (Board of Directors, President 2005-2006), Graduate, Riley Institute, Diversity Leaders Initiative; New Prospect Baptist Church (Chairman of Deacon Board 2012-2013; Building Program 2013-2014); Volunteer Solicitor, 7th Judicial Circuit, Spartanburg County, 2011).
- 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: Tim F. Williams & Maegen W. Stokes, When Has a Patentee Performed a Reasonable Pre-Suit Investigation Under Rule 11?, Dority & Manning (June, 13 2018), available here; Tim F. Williams & Seth E. Jones, Avoiding Knowledge of a U.S. Patent Does Not Preclude Willful Infringement, Dority & Manning (February 13, 2018), available here; When Copying Becomes Criminal: The Stiff Criminal Penalties for Copyright Infringement, South Carolina Lawyer, May 2003, at 32.
