General Counsel Bios
Office of the General Counsel Bios
Bernard Knight was sworn-in as the USPTO General Counsel on April 19, 2010. His assumption of this new position, marks Mr. Knight’s return to the USPTO where he served as the agency’s first Deputy General Counsel for General Law from 2001 to 2006.
As General Counsel, Mr. Knight is the principal legal advisor to the Under Secretary and Director. He supervises the provision of legal advice and court representation on all intellectual property and administrative matters for the USPTO. Mr. Knight also coordinates with the Department of Justice, Department of Commerce and other agencies in developing the U.S. position on major intellectual property cases before the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals.
After leaving the USPTO in 2006, Mr. Knight was the Assistant General Counsel (General Law, Ethics and Regulation) at the Department of Treasury. His office was responsible for all general law, ethics and regulatory issues at the Treasury Department. He also supervised the Chief Counsels of the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the Alcohol, Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
Mr. Knight was selected to serve as Acting General Counsel of the Treasury Department's 2,000 lawyer Legal Division for approximately eight months during the critical period from the beginning of the Obama Administration until the confirmation of a new General Counsel. As Acting General Counsel, Bernie advised the Treasury Secretary and senior agency officials and led the Treasury Legal Division through the Administration's financial crisis response. He is the recipient of two Treasury Distinguished Service Awards. The first was awarded by Secretary Henry M. Paulson in 2009 for extraordinary service in establishing the TARP and for his key managerial role in revitalizing the Treasury Legal Division and the second was awarded by Secretary Timothy F. Geithner in 2010 for his work as Acting General Counsel leading the Treasury Legal Division during the Administration’s financial crisis response.
Prior to his work at the USPTO, Mr. Knight was a Senior Trial Attorney with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) Tax Division. While at the DOJ, Mr. Knight received Outstanding Attorney Awards for his achievements. Before joining the DOJ, Mr. Knight worked at the law firms of Vinson & Elkins in Houston, Texas and Hopkins & Sutter in Chicago, Illinois. As an Adjunct Professor of Law at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, Mr. Knight taught several classes in the Master of Laws in Taxation program.
Mr. Knight received his J.D. degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, a Masters Degree in Developmental Psychology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and a B.S.B.A. from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Raymond Chen was named the Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor in December 2008. In this role, he defends the Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the USPTO and the agency in court-related procedures relating to intellectual property issues.
As an Associate Solicitor, Mr. Chen spent 10 years defending the USPTO's decisions in federal court, briefing and arguing numerous cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. His notable Federal Circuit arguments include In re Bilski, In re Nuijten, and In re Comiskey. Mr. Chen has also provided legal advice to the USPTO on new regulations and examination guidelines.
The Office of the Solicitor provides legal counsel to the Under Secretary and Director and the Commissioners for Patents and Trademarks on intellectual property matters. The office's primary responsibility is to defend decisions of the Under Secretary and Director, Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and examiners in patent and trademark cases. The office also represents the Under Secretary and Director at depositions of USPTO employees, maintains the Solicitor's Law Library, provides legal advice on proposed regulations and correspondence, and monitors publication of USPTO decisions. The Solicitor's Office, in coordination with the Department of Commerce, also provides representation for the Under Secretary and Director in the interagency deliberations on intellectual property matters.
Before joining the USPTO, Mr. Chen served for two years as a Technical Assistant at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Prior to that, he was an associate at Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear in Newport Beach, California, where his practice focused on patent prosecution and litigation. Before entering law school, Mr. Chen was a scientist for Hecker & Harriman in Los Angeles, California, specializing in patent prosecution for electronics and computer-related technologies. He received his J.D. from the New York University School of Law and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles.
James Payne has served as Deputy General Counsel for General Law since November 2011. The Office of General Law provides legal counsel on the administration and management of the agency, including on financial, employment and labor matters, as well as on administrative law and legislative matters. The Office also represents the agency in litigation before administrative tribunals.
Mr. Payne has served as lead counsel successfully resolving over 200 affirmative and defensive litigation cases. The cases commonly involved technical and scientific experts. He has frequently spoken at and chaired conferences on litigation practice. He has authored five statutes and testified three times before Congress. He was registered as a patent attorney in 2006.
Mr. Payne comes to the PTO after twelve years at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served as Senior Counsel in the Environment and Natural Resources Division. He was lead counsel for general law, policy and legislative matters and for special litigation. When the Deepwater Horizon oil platform sank in the Gulf of Mexico, he led a team of 60 attorneys across the Government who supported the emergency response with coordinated legal advice on an expedited basis at the request of the White House. He led a similar team for the Japan nuclear crisis. He also led an interagency and White House team that developed the Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Justice, in which 17 department Secretaries and agency heads agreed to carry out strategic plans to improve health and environmental protection in minority and low-income communities. He received nine outstanding attorney awards, including the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Information Technology for leading the U.S. Department of Justice and other departments and agencies in improving electronic discovery practices in civil litigation and criminal prosecutions.
Previously, Mr. Payne served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. He authored an 18-State amicus brief adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court in its leading constitutional case on state sovereignty, New York vs. U.S., and led a nationwide team of State litigators who successfully brought to the Court a series of cases in this area. He received the National Association of Attorneys General’s highest recognition, the Marvin Award.
Mr. Payne received from Dartmouth College an A.B. with a major in Engineering Sciences. His J.D. is from Ohio State University. As a law student he founded the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, which the American Bar Association adopted as its official journal promoting use of mediation and other forms of "alternative dispute resolution" to avoid litigation.
William R. Covey is the Deputy General Counsel for Enrollment and Discipline and the Director of OED. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Covey served as the Deputy General Counsel for the Office of General Law for over four years. His many accomplishments in that position include providing timely and knowledgeable advice to the Agency during the February 2009 USPTO budget crisis and dealing effectively with many sensitive personnel matters. Recently, he successfully completed a detail to the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) where he provided critical leadership in updating the Practitioner’s Exam.
Mr. Covey received his undergraduate degree from Fordham University in New York and earned his law degree from Fordham University Law School in 1991. He is also a graduate of Harvard University’s Senior Executive Fellows Program. Mr. Covey was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2007 after completing the Department of Commerce's two-year Senior Executive Service Career Development Program. He is also a member of the United States Army Reserves and has served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
