Michael A. Mann

Member
Columbia, South Carolina
(T) 803.771.8900
(F) 803-727-1466
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Practices
Practices

Industries
Industries

Mike Mann leads the Intellectual Property group, focusing on the preparation and prosecution of patent and trademark applications, advising clients regarding patent, trademark and copyrights issues, intellectual property transfers and licensing and dispute mediation.

Mr. Mann has a wide variety of experience including six years as a design engineer and seven years as corporate general counsel for a technical services company.  He formed the intellectual property law firm of Michael A. Mann, P. A., in Columbia, SC in 1987, which joined Nexsen Pruet in 1998 to substantially augment the latter's intellectual property capabilities and bring the breadth of Nexsen Pruet's capabilities to his clients.

In addition to being comfortable with a broad range of technology, Mr. Mann's background as a general counsel gives a unique perspective on the challenges that face corporations in dealing with intellectual property issues. Mr. Mann is also trained as a mediator and negotiator of intellectual property disputes. He frequently lectures and writes on intellectual property subjects.

In the mid-1990s, Mr. Mann read about the Visual Literacy Festival of Richland School District One.  The festival includes six contests per year with each featuring a different type of creativity, such as a puppet-making contest, a book-making contest, a photography contest, a political cartoon contest, a computer graphics contest and a video contest.

Mr. Mann offered to provide an award for the most creative entry.  When he joined Nexsen Pruet, the firm decided to continue the tradition. Each year the Award for Creative Excellence provides a $500 US savings bond to the winner.  “What is gratifying to me is that the winners of the award are not typically the academically successful kids and the star athletes who are normally celebrated in schools,” says Mann.  “Rather they are many times the nameless, faceless kids who go unnoticed through the hallways. Winning this contest is often the first time these kids have ever been recognized. That recognition can be life changing. If we encourage them and other creative kids, someday they may return the favor.”

Mr. Mann has a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's degree in nuclear engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, a law degree from Duquesne University and has taken additional courses in other technical fields and in intellectual property mediation.

Career Highlights
Career Highlights
  • Registered patent attorney
  • Mediator and negotiator of intellectual property disputes
  • Listed on World Intellectual Property Organization's roster of qualified neutrals for arbitration and mediation of intellectual property disputes
  • South Carolina Bar - Intellectual Property Committee, Former Chairman
  • The Harmony School, Former Board Chairman
  • South Carolina Technical College System, State Board Member
  • South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics, Foundation Board Member
News
News

Publications
Publications

Education
Education
  • Pennsylvania State University B.S., 1969
  • Pennsylvania State University M.S., 1974
  • Duquesne University, J.D., 1979
  • Additional courses in various technologies including computer engineering and nanotechnology, and in alternative dispute resolution techniques
Bar & Court Admissions
Bar & Court Admissions
  • South Carolina
  • Pennsylvania (inactive status)
  • U.S. District Court, District of South Carolina
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Civic & Professional Memberships
Civic & Professional Memberships
  • Carolina, Patent, Trademark and Copyright Lawyers Association
  • South Carolina Bar