Executive Biographies > Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor

Raymond Chen

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.

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Since 1790, the basic role of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has remained the same: to promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to inventors the exclusive right to their respective discoveries (Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution). Today, the USPTO is a federal agency in the Department of Commerce, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. Through the issuance of patents, the USPTO encourages technological advancement by providing incentives to invent, invest in, and disclose new technology worldwide. Through the registration of trademarks, the agency assists businesses in protecting their investments, promoting goods and services, and safeguarding consumers against confusion and deception in the marketplace. By disseminating both patent and trademark information, the USPTO promotes an understanding of intellectual property protection and facilitates the development and sharing of new technologies worldwide.