Office of the General Counsel Bios

James Toupin received his A.B. degree with distinction from Stanford University in 1973, and his J.D. degree from the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, in 1977, where he was an editor of the law review. He is a member of the California and District of Columbia Bars.

Mr. Toupin began his professional career at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., specializing in intellectual property and unfair competition law and administrative agency litigation. In 1985-1987, he worked for the Washington office of the California law firm of Memel, Jacobs, Pierno, Gersh and Ellsworth, where he concentrated on international trademark registration and licensing.

In 1987, he was appointed Assistant General Counsel for Litigation of the United States International Trade Commission and subsequently to Deputy General Counsel. In those positions, he supervised defense of the Commission's actions in U.S. courts and international tribunals. The domestic court representation included defense of the Commission's determinations on patent and other intellectual property matters in the Federal Circuit and of the Commission's determinations in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations in the U.S. Court of International Trade and the Federal Circuit.

Mr. Toupin also assisted in the negotiations leading to the adoption of dispute settlement mechanisms in the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization Agreements, as well as in representation of the United States in proceedings in those fora. He has been a member of the Advisory Committee of the Court of International Trade, as well as of the judicial conference organizing committees of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Mr. Toupin became General Counsel of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in January 2001.

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John Whealan is the Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor for the United States Patent and Trademark Office. John has held this position since January 2001. As the Solicitor, John manages an office of twenty-five people who (i) represent the PTO in all federal court IP litigation, and (ii) provide legal and policy advice to the rest of the PTO on IP matters. John has worked in the Solicitor's Office for over five years, previously holding the positions of Acting Deputy Solicitor and Associate Solicitor.

John has personally argued and briefed numerous cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. His staff is typically involved in over fifty such appeals each year. In addition, John and his staff have recently increased their dealings with the Justice Department in filing amicus briefs at the Supreme Court as well as other regional Circuit Courts. For example, in 2001, John's office worked with the Justice Department in filing five Supreme Court amicus briefs (three at the certiorari stage, and two at the merits stage).

John and his office routinely provide legal and policy advice to the rest of the PTO. This can range from implementing the AIPA, to drafting patent examination guidelines, to providing advice on trademark examination in view of recent court decisions.

John is an adjunct professor at two law schools (George Mason and Franklin Pierce) where he teaches an advanced seminar on the Federal Circuit.

Prior to joining the PTO, John worked as a Staff Attorney for the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). At the ITC, John litigated several Section 337 cases involving intellectual property matters.

John has clerked both at the appellate and trial court levels, serving as law clerk to Judge Randall R. Rader of the Federal Circuit, and Judge James T. Turner of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Prior to entering government service, John worked in private practice for Fish & Neave in New York.

John received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and holds both graduate and undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering. John worked as a design engineer for General Electric prior to attending law school.

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William R. Covey is the Deputy General Counsel for General Law.  Mr. Covey provides legal counsel to the Under Secretary and represents the USPTO generally in matters other than those involving intellectual property issues. As the Deputy General Counsel for General Law at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Mr. Covey manages an office of nineteen people who provide advice and written legal opinion on areas concerning the administration and management of the USPTO.

Prior to joining the USPTO in 2000, Mr. Covey served at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia in the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General's Corp in the Office of the General Counsel.  He continues to serve in reserve and is assigned as a Deputy Legal Counsel to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mr. Covey received his undergraduate degree from Fordham University and earned his juris doctor degree from Fordham University Law School in 1991, he graduated from Harvard University 's JFK School of Government in 2005.  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.

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Judge Michael R. Fleming was appointed to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences as an Administrative Patent Judge on May 1, 1994. Judge Fleming’s has experience in dealing with ex parte appeals involving the electrical arts and interference proceedings.

Judge Fleming received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1978. He received a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University with emphasis in computers in 1982. He received a Juris Doctor from George Mason University Law School in 1986. He was admitted to the Virginia State Bar in 1986.

Judge Fleming worked briefly as an electrical engineer at Naval Facilities Engineering Command and then joined the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office as a patent examiner in 1981. He received an Examiner’s Master rating in computer arts in 1984 and became a primary examiner with full signatory authority in 1985. He became a supervisory primary examiner in 1990 for Art Unit 2308 in the complex art area of computer processing using artificial intelligence.

Judge Fleming received the Norman P. Morgenstern Award and the Department of Commerce’s Bronze Medal. Judge Fleming was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for his participation in the creation of the Examination Guidelines for Computer Related Inventions, which provided major improvement in examining quality and consistency.

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Vice Chief Judge Gary V. Harkcom received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Grove City College in 1971, a Master of Science Degree in Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology (Distinguished Graduate) in 1974, and a Juris Doctor Degree from American University (cum laude) in 1986. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Judge Harkcom served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1971 to 1980, during which time he received the Air Force Meritorious Medal and the Air Force Commendation Medal. Judge Harkcom entered the Patent and Trademark Office in 1981 as a Patent Examiner in computer technology and he became a Primary Patent Examiner in 1985. Judge Harkcom also served as a Supervisory Patent Examiner from 1987 to 1994, and received the Norman P. Morgenstern Award and the Department of Commerce’s Bronze Medal. Judge Harkcom was appointed to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences in 1994 and has served as the Vice Chief Administrative Patent Judge from 1995 until the present. Judge Harkcom was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2005.

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Harry I. Moatz is the Director of Enrollment and Discipline. He is a graduate of the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University. In the United State Patent and Trademark Office, he has served as a primary examiner in the patent examining corps, an Assistant Solicitor, and a Patent Attorney in the Office of Enrollment and Discipline. He assisted in drafting of the USPTO current Code of Professional Responsibility. He has reviewed and acted upon numerous complaints and information received from a wide variety of sources.

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J. David Sams is a member of the Senior Executive Service and serves as Chief Administrative Trademark Judge of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. As chief judge, he has management responsibility for trademark appeals, oppositions, and cancellation proceedings.

He joined the Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark examining attorney in 1975. From 1979 to 1981, he worked as chief legal assistant to the Assistant Commissioner for Trademarks.

Mr. Sams was appointed a member of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in 1981 and was appointed to the Senior Executive Service as Chairman of the TTAB in 1986. His title was changed to Chief Administrative Trademark Judge in 1993. In addition to his management responsibilities, Mr. Sams actively participates as a Board judge in deciding ex parte appeals and inter partes cases.

He is a frequent speaker on trademark law and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board practice and procedure.

Mr. Sams is a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School and Davidson College.

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