Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan is a senior patent attorney at Rolls-Royce and the president of the IP Federation. Her career bridges high-level in-house corporate practice with national and international intellectual property policy leadership. 

At Rolls-Royce, her work focuses on patent prosecution, multi-disciplinary team engineering projects, and European Patent Office oppositions. 

Vaughan has highlighted the role of her team’s patent protection strategy in supporting sustainable aviation innovation, particularly in relation to the UltraFan engine.

She has also documented how IP protection enabled a successful collaboration between Rolls-Royce and the University of Bristol.

Vaughan’s influence in the IP sector stems from her ability to connect corporate innovation with international legal policy, making her a trusted, authoritative voice for industry interests before global IP bodies and governments.

A UK chartered patent attorney, European patent attorney, and Unified Patent Court representative, she worked in private practice in firms such as Mewburn Ellis and Withers & Rogers before joining Rolls-Royce in 2013.

In July 2025, Vaughan was elected president of the IP Federation after serving a term as vice president. In this role, she campaigns for a high-quality, cost-effective IP rights framework to help UK commerce compete globally. 

In May 2026, she participated in the Global Leaders’ Dialogue on Intellectual Property alongside the heads of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Trademark Association (INTA), and the UK Intellectual Property Office. 

Beyond technical policy, Vaughan is an advocate for inclusion across the profession, notably leading the adaptation of the IP Inclusive Senior Leaders’ Pledge for major corporate departments.