EU patent court referendum

It's almost unbelievable that some people are so intellectually deficient that they would vote no, just because the government would like a yes vote.

Vote no if you don't like the proposal,or even if you don't understand it but to be too stupid to actually research it, listen to what those who regularly use patents etc, want, is just disappointing. It really shows a lack of intelligence.

The UPC has been in the making about as long as the European Patent Convention (1973), call it 50 years. It’s taken that long, and a little help from the EU in the final straight (note: EPC and European patent system have nothing whatsoever to do with the EU / EEC before that).

So much for R&D, IP as a profession, FDI and more, acceding to the UPC would approach game-changing territory for Ireland, being an EU member state, having English as a national language, a jurisdictional heritage mixing aspects of common law and jurisprudence in IP litigation tracking British precedent relatively closely (*not* a bad thing), still featuring strong advantages for domiciliating both high tech R&D and IP holding companies, besides academic hotbeds of R&D and one of best educated workforces going.

It could (managed well, it should) do for tech and IP in Ireland, what Brexit did to finance for you guys, for exactly the same reasons: had the U.K. not Brexited, London would have had one of the UPC’s 3 Central Divisions since day one. The UPCA and the Rules of Procedures of the UPC are very British legal system-based and -influenced, you can feel the influence which the success of the UK’s IPEC had in it. But well, Brexit, so that Central Division went to Milan instead, and so there still isn’t a Local Division that ‘appeals’ to anglophile litigants…until (if) Dublin comes online.

Contrarians, conspiracists and assorted other nayers, do all the damage you will do about EU and local elections. But please, please, take a leaf out of Geert Wilders’ latest book: BR, N, IR -exit is for the terminally-stupid, never more so than in a situation like this, wherein everybody benefits (and no, you won’t find Big Law arguing against it: ever since Philips v Remington epilady cases around Europe (look it up, based on EP 0101656B1), pan- or cross-European patent litigation just didn’t happen/there was no market/money for it: too costly and, crucially, far too uncertain).

That was very much the TL;DR version with simpler terms.

I can give it another go: “Unified Patent Court good for Ireland plc and all who sail in her; vote yes”.

What terms, or expressions, or sentences give you difficulty?

Because some people unfortunately think everything is zero sum, so if they aren't obviously winning then they must be losing somehow and there's some machievelian conspiracy to make that happen.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Just_asking_questions

Very obvious what's going on here.

So what are both the Pros and the Cons of this referendum vote, as you see them?

My own wee bit of reading:

https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/News/understanding-the-referendum-on-the-unified-patent-court

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2024-02-29/36/

These paras from above seem relevant:

Neale Richmond "Participating in the UPC is also strategically important for our national competitiveness as we are increasingly trying to attract and develop R&D activities here in Ireland. We all know that foreign-owned firms have a strong impact on the Irish economy by contributing substantially to Ireland’s exports, jobs, expenditure in the Irish economy and Exchequer funds. Our participation will enhance Ireland’s reputation as a high-tech economy with strong IP protections. This will boost our attractiveness to foreign multinational companies already established here and those that are making decisions on where to invest.

Seventeen countries have already ratified, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands and Sweden. These countries are our direct competitors when it comes to attracting foreign companies. Competition for American investment in Europe is intense. We must keep upping our game in terms of our value proposition. We want to ensure that Ireland remains well positioned to sustain our success in attracting FDI. Intellectual property protections are one of the factors that investors cite when making investment decisions. Our participation in the unified patent court represents for Ireland an opportunity to enhance the credibility of our messages to inward investors, namely, that Ireland is an attractive location for high-tech and research, development and innovation activities; that the Government recognises the value of intellectual property to enterprise; that it is committed to providing a supportive environment for the development of IP and for protecting and enforcing IP; and that Ireland is a serious competitor for IP-based foreign investment. I believe that if Ireland does not ratify the agreement, there would be a real risk of reputational and operational damage to Ireland’s innovation economy, as non-participation may be perceived as a legislative and structural weakness."

and from chartered accountants:

"If the referendum is carried, the Government has signalled its intention to establish a local division of the UPC in Ireland. Doing so would mean Ireland would be the only common law, native English-speaking jurisdiction with a UPC. 
Coupled with Ireland’s already attractive tax regime for research and development, the establishment of a local UPC would arguably further boost the State’s profile as a location of choice for inward investment."

So a compelling reason being given to vote Yes is to support and increase FDI. If that is the case, this should be stated clearly to the public - Paddy likes to Know as Enda I think it was, once said.

Why is there no government information of note on this? We're two months out, it's a technical issue and in my experience, I haven't heard or seen any coverage of note in the media. Are they just hoping it'll fly under the radar and as we get closer, government reps will say well it's hard to explain in simple terms, so just vote yes?

What on earth do you mean? I'm looking at two credible sources - the Chartered Accountants of Ireland and Dáil Éireann.

I'm reading these and trying to discern a) why politically we're having this referendum and b) who are the main beneficiaries of a positive result and c) are there any negatives. If you're not interested in this, fine but don't be criticising others of bad faith by asking questions? Some of us like to think with our own heads and not just straight up accept the narrative that's fed. Is this not what boards is for??

OK thank you - you've answered my third query.

But not a) why politically we're having this referendum and b) who are the main beneficiaries of a positive result?

Having referendums is a risky political business, is it not?

And is it true, that this is mainly for the benefit of FDI and MNCs?

just heard on the news that this referendum might be postponed.
I think postponement is a smart move. There’s enough going on with the locals and euros without trying to convince an already peed off electorate to vote yes.

I think it makes sense to postpone, this referendum while not ground breakingly important should absolutely be passed and its very risky right now as we've seen just from the bad faith actor in this thread.

The fact a referendum would need to be held at all on that issue is a quirk (or weakness) in our political system that becomes very exploitable in current environment.

Unfortunately democracies are going to have to grasp the nettle of "bad faith actors" using social media/the internet to squirt nonsense and/or poison into the brains of their citizens, or I am afraid a lot of them won't survive.

You can't postpone questions forever, and some things (not this!) need direct democracy/referendums to decide them properly I think.