Townsend Belser

Clients rely on Townsend's counsel for both routine and complex patent matters. Based on his initial work experience as a nuclear power design engineer and his many years of practicing patent law after law school, he advises clients on the intricacies of obtaining worthwhile patent protection in the United States and other countries, as well as on business matters related to using and licensing patents. He also counsels clients on registering and protecting their valuable names for products and services, as well as on business matters related to using and licensing these trademarks and service marks.

Townsend recognizes that innovation is at the heart of the businesses that provide products to improve and enhance people’s lives, and he has devoted most of his professional career to assisting inventors and the businesses employing them in protecting their innovative concepts and inventions. To understand how he can provide such assistance, consider his background. Townsend studied chemical engineering at Georgia Tech and graduated with honor. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy as an engineer on the staff of Admiral H. G. Rickover, the father of the nuclear power Navy. After leaving active military service, Townsend held a full-time job with a patent law firm in Washington, DC, while working his way through night law school at George Washington University. After graduating from law school, he returned to South Carolina to practice law with a general practice firm in Columbia, where he also built up an intellectual property practice. He later returned to Washington, DC, to join a patent law firm and practice intellectual property full-time. After retiring as a partner in the Washington firm, he associated with Maynard Nexsen as Special Counsel in its intellectual property group.  Having practiced intellectual property law for over 40 years, Townsend continues to assist clients with the protection of their intellectual property and navigation of the complexities of the recently revised US patent laws and international laws pertaining to patents.

Community & Professional

• American Chemical Society
• Carolina Patent, Trademark & Copyright Law Association

Outside Maynard Nexsen

Townsend enjoys the outdoors all year round.  His activities include sailing, snorkeling, scuba diving, hiking, and general aviation piloting, and he is an avid snow skier. In March of 2013, he participated in a 6 hour excursion across a glacial area known as Vallee Blanche near Chamonix, France.

• Martindale-Hubbell "AV" Preeminent Peer Review Rated

Townsend authored an article entitled "Challenging Issued Patents After September 16, 2012", published in the LightSwitch Intellectual Property Law Bulletin.