John Hardaway Elected to the U.S. Council For Global Intellectual Property Group

Greenville, S.C. -- John B. Hardaway III, an intellectual property attorney with Nexsen Pruet Jacobs & Pollard, LLC, has been elected to the U.S. Council for the Federation International des Conseils en Propriete Industrielle (FICPI), the world's only association for intellectual property attorneys in private practice.

FICPI is a non-political, international organization that works on behalf of patent and trademark lawyers. Established in 1906, its 3,800 members come from 70 countries and comprise a prestigious network of global associates committed to maintaining the standards and expertise of the profession worldwide.

The U.S. Council operates similar to a board of directors for the group.

"I have always felt FICPI was an extremely important organization in the international arena for the development of strategic positions regarding intellectual property," said Hardaway, who practices in Nexsen Pruet's Greenville office. "This is not only an honor, but also an opportunity to move closer to the center of the arena and be in a position to be an advocate for the United States." Hardaway, who practices on Nexsen Pruet's Intellectual Property group, earned his engineering undergraduate and graduate degrees from Clemson and Iowa State. While in law school at Catholic University, he worked as an examiner in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee while serving in the chief counsel's office of the Atomic Energy Commission, handling patent matters for Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Hardaway is a Past President of the Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law Association of the Carolinas; immediate Past Chairman of the Japanese Patent Office Liaison Council of the U.S. Bar; and current Chairman of the American Intellectual Property Law Association Committee on IP practice in Japan.

Additionally, he is Past Chairman of the S.C. Secretary of State's Blue Ribbon Commission on Intellectual Property, and a member of the S.C. Attorney General's Blue Ribbon Commission on Intellectual Property Law; the American Bar Association's Intellectual Property Law section; and the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property. He is also a Delegate to the Board of Governors of the South Carolina Bar and has been a Delegate with the Citizens Ambassador's Programs on patent- and trademark-related projects to China, Japan, and the former Soviet Union.

Nexsen Pruet is one of the leading law firms in the Carolinas, with 135 attorneys and offices in Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, Hilton Head, and Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Charlotte, N.C. Founded in 1945, Nexsen Pruet provides a broad range of legal services to the business community and represents companies and other entities in local, state, national, and international venues. For further information, see www.nexsenpruet.com

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