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Camden at a glance
Camden is one of three places in Kershaw County that require a business license: the Kershaw County Chamber of Commerce says the county itself does not, and it names Bethune, Camden and Elgin as the places that do. Inside the city limits, anyone doing business needs a Camden license that runs from May 1 to April 30 and is renewed every year, and a new or relocated business also needs an occupancy permit. City Hall is at 1000 Lyttleton Street, Camden, SC 29020. A license is permission to operate; a trademark is registered separately, with the South Carolina Secretary of State.
Step one: identify what you own
Start with a plain list of what the business has made or named, and confirm which legal person owns the business. Corporations, nonprofit corporations, LLCs, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships are filed with the South Carolina Secretary of State through its online Business Filings system, while sole proprietorships and general partnerships do not file there. The Secretary of State does not register DBA or trade names. Ask an attorney whether the company or a person should hold each right.
Step two: check what is registered
A trademark can be registered federally under 15 U.S.C. 1051, and South Carolina keeps its own register, described on the Secretary of State’s trademark page. A state mark has to be in use before it can be registered. The application names the owner and the goods or services, gives the dates of first use anywhere and in South Carolina, and includes three specimens of the mark as used. A state registration lasts five years and can be renewed for further five year periods if the renewal is filed within the six months before it expires. It gives rights in South Carolina and no federal protection, but it lets the owner sue under the state act for infringement or counterfeiting (S.C. Code Ann. 39-15-1105 to 39-15-1195).
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Step three: know the court
A patent claim is filed in federal court, not in a state court (28 U.S.C. 1338(a)). Under 28 U.S.C. 121, the county list places Kershaw County in the Columbia Division of the District of South Carolina, and the court’s pages give 901 Richland Street, Columbia, SC 29201 for that division. Federal venue rules, not that list, decide where a particular case can be filed, so have an attorney confirm the court before anything is filed. Owners based in Columbia have a page of their own on this site.
Step four: watch the clock
A civil copyright claim must be brought within three years after it accrued (17 U.S.C. 507(b)). Patent law works another way: damages cannot be recovered for infringement that happened more than six years before the suit is filed (35 U.S.C. 286). Write down the day you first learned of a problem, and ask an attorney which clock governs your facts.
Step five: protect secrets at work
The South Carolina Trade Secrets Act treats information such as a formula, pattern, compilation, program, method, process, design or code as a trade secret when it has economic value because others do not generally know it and cannot readily find it out by proper means, and when the owner makes reasonable efforts to keep it secret (S.C. Code Ann. 39-8-20(5)). If the secret relates to a product or service used in, or intended for use in, interstate or foreign commerce, the federal trade secret statute also lets the owner sue in federal court (18 U.S.C. 1836(b)). South Carolina has no statute on employee noncompete agreements, so courts decide them under case law and read them strictly against the employer, and an attorney should confirm the current rule before you sign or rely on one.
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Step six: use local help
The Kershaw County Chamber of Commerce, at 80 Campus Drive in Camden, keeps a starting a business page that points owners to the South Carolina Business One Stop portal for state registrations and to Small Business Administration planning material. A City of Camden release dated December 19, 2025 announced a free series of four small business workshops for January and February 2026 at the Camden Library Branch, 1304 Broad Street, held with the Kershaw County Library. Those sessions covered taxes, cash flow, life, disability and long term care coverage, and marketing on a budget. Intellectual property was not on that list, so questions about patents, marks or trade secrets still belong with an attorney.
Step seven: local organizations to know
Central Carolina Technical College has its main campus in Sumter and serves Clarendon, Kershaw, Lee and Sumter counties. In Camden it runs a Kershaw County Campus at 90 Campus Drive, in the Fred R. Sheheen Center for Excellence. Kershaw County’s manufacturing page describes a talent pipeline called The Campus, with training space tied to the Woolard Technology Center and the college. If you developed something while studying or working at a school, ask an attorney how its invention policy applies.
Step eight: industry context
Kershaw County Economic Development gives its office address as 95 Innovation Way, Camden, SC 29020, and its site carries company announcements and an industry list for the county. One of those announcements, a release dated April 23, 2025, says Principal Mineral acquired the assets of Denkai America in April 2025 and that the former Denkai America plant in Camden is now Camden Copper. Camden Copper describes itself as the last United States source of defense grade electrodeposited copper foil, which goes into printed circuit boards and radio frequency systems. A release dated August 31, 2016 on the same site said INVISTA would invest $30 million at its nylon fiber plant near Camden, a plant that in 2016 made fiber for the STAINMASTER and ANTRON carpet brands. The county’s manufacturing page also names GE Appliances, a Haier company, Hengst of North America, LaserForm and Machine, Cogsdill Tool Products, Elgin Machine Corporation and Sterlite Technologies as companies in the county, without a town for each.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Camden business license protect my business name?
The Camden license is permission to do business inside the city limits, valid from May 1 to April 30 and renewed each year. A trademark is a different filing, made with the South Carolina Secretary of State, and that office does not register DBA or trade names. Ask an attorney whether a state or a federal trademark registration fits the name you use.
How long does a South Carolina trademark registration last?
A state registration lasts five years and can be renewed for successive five year periods, as long as the renewal is filed within the six months before it expires.
How long do I have to sue over a stolen trade secret in South Carolina?
Under the South Carolina Trade Secrets Act, the claim must be brought within three years after the misappropriation is discovered or should have been discovered with reasonable diligence, and a continuing misappropriation counts as one claim.
Did the City of Camden’s 2026 small business workshops cover intellectual property?
No. The city’s release dated December 19, 2025 announced four free workshops for January and February 2026 at the Camden Library Branch, 1304 Broad Street, and the subjects were taxes, cash flow, life, disability and long term care coverage, and marketing on a budget. None of the four was about patents, trademarks or trade secrets.
Where can a new Camden business find links for state registrations?
The Kershaw County Chamber of Commerce, at 80 Campus Drive in Camden, has a starting a business page that points owners to the South Carolina Business One Stop portal and to Small Business Administration planning material.
For the full list of South Carolina communities we serve, see our South Carolina intellectual property page. If your matter involved another town in the area, see our pages for Columbia, Sumter, and Hartsville. Injury claims follow different rules, covered on our Camden personal injury attorney page.
Step nine: talk to an attorney
Before a first call, put together a short timeline: when you created, named or first sold the thing you want to protect, who worked on it, and any agreement that mentions it. For a view across the whole state, see South Carolina intellectual property attorneys. When you are ready, you can get matched with an intellectual property attorney.
