John Riley

John Raymond Riley is the acting deputy general counsel for the United States Copyright Office. He was appointed to the position effective April 6, 2025.

Riley assists the General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights with the critical policy functions of the Office, including providing legal guidance to the Office’s directorates, implementing regulations governing the administration of the copyright system, advising congressional offices and other federal agencies, and developing legal positions in copyright litigation and other matters.

Riley has served as assistant general counsel since October 2019 and joined the Office in 2013 as an attorney-advisor. He has contributed to several major policy studies for the Office, including the Copyright Small Claims and Copyright and the Music Marketplace reports; authored several important regulations, including those implementing the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 and Music Modernization Act of 2018; and provided counsel in significant copyright litigation matters, including multiple cases before the Supreme Court. Riley previously served as a law clerk in the Office of Policy and International Affairs in 2007.

Before joining the Office, Riley was the senior manager of IP enforcement at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he worked on intellectual property enforcement policy. Riley earned an LLM from the George Washington University Law School, a JD from the Dickinson School of Law, and a BA from Penn State University. He is also a 2023 Leadership Music graduate.