Michael A. Mann

Mike Mann practices in 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 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 sponsor an award for the most creative entry.  When he joined Nexsen Pruet, the firm continued that tradition of sponsoring the Award for Creative Excellence to the winner.  “What is gratifying to me is that the winners of the award are not always the academically successful kids or the star athletes who are normally the recipients of recognition,” 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 they have ever been recognized for anything. That recognition can change their lives for the better. If we encourage these creative kids, someday they may return the favor by changing ours.”

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.

Learn more about Mr. Mann...

• 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
• "Legal Elite of the Midlands" - Intellectual Property, 2012

• 16 Nexsen Pruet Attorneys Listed in “Legal Elite of the Midlands” for 2012
  Sixteen Nexsen Pruet attorneys have been listed in Columbia Business Monthly's 2012 "Legal Elite of the Midlands."
• "Mann: High-tech education key to growing economy"
  The April 29th edition of The State newspaper features a guest column written by Nexsen Pruet's Mike Mann, who chairs the firm's Intellectual Property Group. It is entitled "Mann: High-tech education key to growing economy."
• Nexsen Pruet Earns Designation as 'Midlands Green Business'
  Nexsen Pruet has earned designation as a Midlands Green Business, joining other Columbia-area organizations that are committed to environmentally responsible practices in the workplace.
• Michael Mann Appointed to Board of SC Governor's School for Science and Mathematics Foundation
  Nexsen Pruet is proud to announce that Intellectual Property attorney Mike Mann has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics Foundation.
• Nexsen Pruet to Sponsor 6th Annual Innoventure Conferences
  When entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, educators, and business leaders gather for the 6th annual InnoVenture Conference in Greenville, they’ll have the full support of Nexsen Pruet. The law firm is a founding sponsor of the event, which brings together global thought leaders from the corporate, technology, and higher education worlds in a day-long event scheduled for March 24 at the Carolina First Center.
• Intellectual Property Group Recognized in Leading Trade Publication
  Nexsen Pruet announced today that it has been recognized in “Who Protects Innovation in America 2008” by IP Law & Business.
• Columbia Information Technology Council Announces First Sponsor for Palmetto Pillar Awards
  The Columbia Information Technology
  Council (ITC) announced that Nexsen Pruet Jacobs & Pollard is the
  premier event sponsor for the Greater Columbia ITC Palmetto Pillar
  Awards gala, Feb. 7.

• The America Invents Act: The Big Lesson Learned in the First Year
  Since the Smith-Leahy America Invents Act (AIA) was signed into law, court decisions have turned on provisions of the act.
• The U.S. Patent and Trademark Branch Office Near You
  Could U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices be as proliferate as Starbucks coffee shops? Mike Mann sure hopes so!
• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:
  "Intellectual Property is Warware for Market Share" by Michael Mann and "Seven Tips for Protecting Your Intellectual Property in the Age of Social Media" by Corby Anderson
• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:
  - The Venture Capitalist Said "Protectable IP" by Michael Mann
  - Challenging Issued Patents After September 16, 2012 by Townsend Belser
• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:
  - Alternative Dispute Resolution and The America Invents Act
  By Michael A. Mann
  - Wake-Up Start-Up: A Start-Up and Small Business Patent Strategy for the Future?
  By Amy Allen Hinson
  
• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:
  -"When You Need Your Patent Fast: Choosing Between “Track 1” and Accelerated Examination"
  By Michael A. Mann
  -"Dot Com Who?"
  By Sara C. Kanos
• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:

  -The America Invents Act
  Mike Mann discusses the most comprehensive reform of the U.S. patent system since 1952.

  -NPR’s This American Life Takes on the Patent System
  Dan Leonardi reviews "When Patents Attack," the recent episode from radio show This American Life.

  -Hey! You Stole the Invention I Paid You to Invent!
  Will Lewis addresses the best way to ensure employees do not run off with the inventions they were hired to invent.

• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:

  -Stanford v. Roche: A Cautionary Tail for Employers

  -Intellectual Property is 80% of the Value of a Business!

  -Avoiding Confrontations with Licensing Firms

• International Law Update
  Appeals court says international contract requires litigation in England.
• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:

  - World's Largest Patent Troll Finishes Cookbook, Files Lawsuit

  - Design Patents

  - Why Should We Care About Alternative Energy and Going Green?

• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:

  My company has no intellectual property... or does it?

  Brain Child

  What the Librarian of Congress has to do with your cell phone

• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:

  - Shaking Up Trademarks

  - What’s a Bilski?

  - How Does Cotton Affect Patent Rights in Brazil?

• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:

  - The Patent Reform Act of 2010

  - Notable IP Group Activities

  - The Transformative Obama "Hope" Poster Fair Use or an Infringing Derivative Work?

• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:

  -Further Affiant Sayeth Not...

  -Wiping Out Patent Infringement Damages - The Reexamination Strategy

  -Mediation and Asymmetric Mis-information

• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains the following articles:
  - South Carolina and The Wind Energy Debate
  - Virtual Mediation
  - Damages in Patent Cases
  - Liability Risks for Corporate Networking Websites
  
• I wrote it; I own it!... Don't I?
  Ownership of Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyrights, Trade Secrets, Know-how and Trademarks
• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains articles related to:
  
  1. Trademark Protection in NC Under State Statutes
  2. Using a Trademark in Commerce
  3. Damages in Patent Cases, Part 2 of 3
  
• LightSwitch - Intellectual Property Law Bulletin
  This edition contains articles related to:
  
  1) The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act (a.k.a. PRO-IP Act)
  2) Damages in Patent Cases, Part 1 of 3
  3) Non-traditional Trademarks and Servicemarks
• Real Estate Developers and their Intellectual Property
  There is something magical about turning a parcel of raw land into a place where people live and raise their families, where businesses go about their business, or where people return for their vacations year after year.... A developer’s deed protects the real property. What protects the intellectual property?
• Intellectual Property Team Holiday Cards
  Each year, Nexsen Pruet's Intellectual Property team creates holiday cards for clients and contacts. In the spirit of the holiday season, we take a look back at the cards from years past.
• Intellectual Property Update
• Intellectual Property Beyond the Frontier
• Patent Claims and the Claim Game
• Patents on Methods of Doing Business
• Provisional Patent Applications
• Trademark Searches
• Work made for hire and the independent contractor
  This article addresses the two routes of transferring ownership of copyrights from the independent contractor to the contracting party and the advantages of using the "work made for hire" route as opposed to an assignment of rights.
• Cost Comparison of Official Fees for Euro-PCT Application
  This schedule outlines the official fees through the EP Regional phase entry of an international (PCT) application filed with the RO/US. It compares the cost for an application which chooses the USPTO as ISA and IPEA to those for the same application where the EPO is the ISA and IPEA.
• Mediation of Intellectual Property Disputes
• "High-Tech" Patents
• Non-Disclosure Agreements in South Carolina
• Too Late to Patent? - The On Sale Bar

The Smith-Leahy America Invents Act: Implications for a Global IP Strategy
Mr. Mann guest lectured on the new patent act in the context of growing intellectual property law harmonization to the Professional International MBA Program at the Moore School of Business on July 9, 2012.