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If you have an invention in Florence
In a release dated 21 March 2017, the South Carolina Department of Commerce said GE Healthcare’s plant at 3001 West Radio Drive in Florence specializes in designing, making and testing the superconducting magnet components of its MRI systems, and it announced a 40 million dollar expansion of the plant. If you work there and develop an idea, any invention assignment or confidentiality agreement you signed is what an attorney will want to read.
Any business inside the city limits needs a city business license, which the Licensing and Permitting Department at 324 West Evans Street issues after the business obtains a zoning compliance certificate and passes a Fire Marshal inspection, according to the city’s business license page, dated 2024 to 2026 in its footer.
Search first, then decide what to file
For company names, the Secretary of State’s online Business Filings system covers corporations, nonprofit corporations, LLCs, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships do not file there, and South Carolina keeps no statewide register of DBA or trade names.
A product name or logo already in use can be registered online with the Secretary of State as a South Carolina trademark or service mark, using three specimens of the mark in use. That record counts in South Carolina alone and carries no federal protection, so a seller shipping to other states should ask about registering under 15 U.S.C. 1051.
South Carolina’s Trade Secrets Act reaches information such as a formula, program, method, process, design or code that has economic value because others do not generally know it and cannot readily find it out by proper means, provided the owner makes reasonable efforts to keep it secret. Weigh secrecy against a patent application with an attorney before you show the idea to anyone.
As of its 2023 page, the Florence Area Center of the Winthrop Region Small Business Development Center is located in Florence-Darlington Technical College at 2715 West Lucas Street, Building 100, Room 115, and serves eight counties, Florence among them. The Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce, at 100 West Evans Street, works with the Grand Strand SCORE organization to support SCORE’s Pee Dee Branch, and the chamber’s 2026 page says SCORE offers free mentoring and low or no cost business training.
University and lab connections near Florence
Francis Marion University, whose 2026 pages give its address as 4822 East Palmetto Street, Florence, lists industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, engineering technology, pre engineering and a dual degree engineering program under its Physics and Engineering department. Its Office of Sponsored Programs deals with externally funded grants, contracts and cooperative agreements. If your invention grew out of a class or a funded project there, have an attorney read any university policy and grant terms before you file or sell.
On the Florence-Darlington Technical College campus at 1951 Pisgah Road, the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing Technology offers industrial 3D printing, a machine shop, and scanning and reverse engineering for prototype and production work. Before drawings leave your hands, ask an attorney about a confidentiality agreement and who will own changes to your design.
Protecting your work in Florence? Get matched with an attorney now.
Patent clocks and public disclosure
Under 35 U.S.C. 286, damages for patent infringement can be recovered only for the six years before the suit is filed, so a long wait after spotting a copy can shrink what is recoverable. For manuals and software that go with an invention, a civil copyright claim must be brought within three years after it accrued (17 U.S.C. 507(b)). The South Carolina Trade Secrets Act allows three years from when the misappropriation is discovered or should have been discovered with reasonable diligence.
Pitch competitions are among the programs the South Carolina Research Authority’s Innovation Hubs grants may fund, so if you plan to enter one, ask an attorney first what to hold back and how a public showing could affect a later patent application. Write down every date you showed or offered the invention to anyone outside your business.
If someone copies your invention: the federal court division
The county list in 28 U.S.C. 121 places Florence County in the Florence Division of the District of South Carolina. A patent claim is filed in federal court only (28 U.S.C. 1338(a)), but which district and division may hear a particular case turns on federal venue rules rather than the county list, so an attorney should confirm the court before anything is filed.
When a confidential process is taken, 18 U.S.C. 1836(b) lets its owner sue in federal court if the secret relates to a product or service used in, or intended for use in, interstate or foreign commerce, and the state Trade Secrets Act supplies a separate claim. The owner of a South Carolina trademark registration can sue under the state act for infringement or counterfeiting.
Questions inventors ask
### I signed a noncompete at a Florence plant. Will a court enforce it?
South Carolina has no statute on employee noncompete agreements, so courts decide them under case law and read them strictly, and an attorney should confirm the current rule for the agreement you signed. Carrying a former employer’s confidential process to a new job is a separate matter that can raise a claim under the South Carolina Trade Secrets Act.
Have questions about a patent, trademark, copyright, or trade secret? Connect with an attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which federal courthouse in Florence does the District of South Carolina list?
The court’s location page lists the J. L. McMillan Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse at 401 West Evans Street, Florence, SC 29501 among its court locations, and the court’s pages give that address for the Florence Division. Under 28 U.S.C. 121, Florence County sits in that division. Federal venue rules, not the county list, decide where a given case may be filed.
If a competitor copies a patented design, how far back can damages reach?
The recovery window for patent damages is the six years before the suit is filed (35 U.S.C. 286), and infringement earlier than that falls outside it. An attorney can tell you when the window for your own case begins.
How long does a South Carolina trademark registration last?
A state registration runs five years and can be renewed for further five year periods if the renewal is filed within the six months before it expires. The mark must be in use before the Secretary of State will register it.
What does the Kelley Center’s Startup Incubator Program provide?
Francis Marion University’s Kelley Center for Economic Development offers the program at its downtown Florence facility and nowhere else. Its 2026 pages describe an office and technical support for a one year incubation period, for businesses in the startup, pre launch or feasibility phase. Those pages give no street address for the facility, so confirm the location with the center.
Where in Florence can I get a prototype 3D printed or machined?
Clients of the Gould Business Incubator at 1947 Pisgah Road, set up in 2012 as an extension of the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SiMT), can use the SiMT’s 3D printed and machined prototype work along with CAD and design help. Settle in writing who owns any design changes before work begins.
What did the South Carolina Research Authority announce for Florence?
It named Florence as one of six locations for its Innovation Hubs network, in an announcement whose Florence County Economic Development Partnership copy is dated May 27, 2026. Neither that copy nor the SCRA page names a hub facility, address or operator in Florence, so treat it as an announced network rather than an open office.
For a personal injury rather than an intellectual property question, our Florence personal injury page explains the South Carolina rules. We connect people in Hartsville, Lake City, and Marion with local attorneys as well. You can browse every South Carolina city we cover in our South Carolina intellectual property attorney directory.
Finding the right attorney
Before a first meeting, gather dated sketches and test results, any agreement with an employer, a school or a shop that helped build the prototype, and a note of where the product name has been used. For the statewide page, see South Carolina intellectual property attorneys. Inventors working in nearby Hartsville or Lake City have pages written for their own cities, and readers in other states can start from intellectual property attorneys across the country. When your papers are together, you can get matched with an intellectual property attorney.
