Will Covey

Will Covey is currently the Acting Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Prior to assuming the role of Acting Director, Covey served as Deputy General Counsel and Director for the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED). As Deputy General Counsel, Mr. Covey was responsible for ensuring that the nation’s patent attorneys and agents are of good moral character and sufficiently knowledgeable to practice before the USPTO. While at OED, Mr. Covey was responsible for developing and administering the registration examination designed to measure an applicant’s knowledge of patent law and practice.

Mr. Covey has held a number of key positions at the USPTO, including Acting General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel for the Office of General Law. Mr. Covey was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2007.

Mr. Covey received his undergraduate degree from Fordham University (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and earned his J.D. from Fordham University Law School in 1991. He graduated from Harvard University’s JFK School of Government (Senior Executive Fellowship) in 2005 and the U.S. Army War College with an M.S. in Strategic Studies in 2010.

Prior to joining the USPTO in 2000, Mr. Covey was a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He also served on active duty in the Pentagon and was a senior officer in the Army Reserve assigned to the Office of the Army Staff, Office of the Judge Advocate General. He completed combat tours in Iraq (2007) and Afghanistan (2011) and served as Deputy Legal Counsel to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mr. Covey retired from the Army in February 2022.