Arnie Francis Senior Associate UPC representative


Speaks:  English

Qualified: 2016 - European Patent Attorney

Qualified: 2015 - Chartered UK Patent Attorney


Primary office:  London




Arnie Francis

Arnie is a Senior Associate in the Intellectual Property team, based in London. He has worked in the intellectual property profession since 2011 and qualified as both a UK Chartered Patent Attorney in 2015 and a European Patent Attorney in 2016. He is also a Representative before the new Unified Patent Court (UPC). He has a 1st Class degree in Natural Sciences (Astrophysics) from Cambridge University and an MSc (Distinction) in Computational Aeronautics from Imperial College, London.

Arnie has worked in both private practice and in-house at one of the world's leading telecommunication companies. He has experience working with clients of various sizes, ranging from high-growth start-ups to multinationals, and appreciates the impact this has on nurturing effective policies to protect their intellectual property. Whilst working in-house he drafted and prosecuted numerous telecoms standard-essential patent applications and over the course of his career has represented clients before the UK Intellectual Property Office and European Patent Office across a diverse range of technology areas including graphics and computer processing, telecommunications, robotics, biometrics, machine learning, AI and automotive. A particular focus of his practice was advising on the patentability of computer-related inventions, through which he developed a deep understanding of the legal requirements in several key jurisdictions including the UK, Europe and the US.

Since joining Gowling WLG, he has worked across a variety of sectors including telecommunications (having being part of the team acting for InterDigital in its FRAND dispute with Lenovo), video coding, food technology and life sciences in both contentious and non-contentious matters. He is also part of the team's Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court working group to deliver content and guidance on the UPC system for internal and external stakeholders.

In 2018 he was named as one of Managing Intellectual Property's 'Rising Stars'.

Career & Recognition

Filter timeline:
  • 2021

    • Career
      May 2021
      Gowling WLG (UK), Senior Associate
  • 2019

    • Career
      May 2019
      Ericsson, Senior Patent Attorney
  • 2018

    • Rankings & Awards
       2018
      Managing Intellectual Property 'Rising Stars'
  • 2016

    • Qualifications (Year of Call/Admission, etc.)
       2016
      Qualified, European Patent Attorney
  • 2015

    • Career
      March 2015
      Slingsby Partners LLP, Senior Associate
    • Qualifications (Year of Call/Admission, etc.)
       2015
      Qualified, Chartered UK Patent Attorney
  • 2011

    • Education
       2011
      Imperial College London, MSc Advanced Computational Methods for Aeronautics
  • 2010

    • Education
       2010
      University of Cambridge, BA Natural Sciences (Astrophysics)