Sir Richard David Arnold (born 23 June 1961)[1] styled the Rt Hon Lord Justice Arnold is a Judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.
Arnold was educated at Highgate School and Magdalen College, Oxford, before gaining a diploma in law from the University of Westminster.[2]
He was called to the bar in 1985 and made a silk in 2000. He was appointed to the High Court Chancery Division in 2008, becoming the judge in charge of the Patent Court in April 2013. In 2011, he criticized copyright law as "incoherent."[3] In 2016, he ruled that Nestle could not trademark KitKat Candy bars' shape.[4][5]
He was appointed to the Court of Appeal,[6][7] effective 1 October 2019.[8][9] In 2024, Arnold ruled that Lenovo has to pay additional licence fees to InterDigital.[10] In 2025, Arnold concurred with a denying Tesla Motors a licence.[11]
Mr Justice Arnold 50
A UK IP judge has described copyright law in the country as "past its sell-by date" and says that the sooner people face up to the fact the better
The British High Court ruled Wednesday in the long legal battle between Nestle and Cadbury over the shape of the four-fingered candy bar. Judge Richard Arnold found that the shape wasn't distinctive enough to warrant a trademark, according to CBS.
Richard Arnold has been appointed today as one of five judges at the UK Court of Appeal. A specialist in intellectual property, Arnold previously served in the UK High Court. He fills the vacancy left by David Kitchin, who was promoted to the Supreme Court in autumn of 2018.
With the news that Mr Justice Arnold is to join the England & Wales Court of Appeal, Managing IP speaks to lawyers to assess the judge's impact on IP law and asks who his replacement might be
Today, Richard Arnold was sworn in as the new IP judge at the UK Court of Appeal. This leaves an opening for a new patent judge to take a seat at the High Court. However, JUVE Patent research suggests that no immediate candidate is willing to join the judicial bench.