Sean Dennehey

Assistant Comptroller and Patents Director

Appointed Director in March 2004 and Assistant Comptroller in November 2007.

Sean is responsible for the delivery of high quality and timely UK national patents and a range of related products and services.

After reading natural sciences at Cambridge University, Sean joined the Office in 1978 as a patent examiner. He has been involved in a number of policy initiatives, including negotiation of the EC Biotechnology Directive and the Supplementary Protection Certificate Regulation, and the conference in 2000 to revise the European Patent Convention.

In the operational field, Sean initially set up the Office's non-statutory search and advisory services. He has also led the Patents Legal Section and acted as a tribunal Hearing Officer, deciding inter-partes disputes as an alternative or prelude to litigation in the High Court.

It's good to hear customers say the service they get from my patents teams is helpful and friendly. What they rarely say is that the patent system itself, especially for international protection, is simple, quick and cheap. Changing that must be one of the big challenges for us.