Brexit discussion thread XIV (Please read OP before posting)

The UK has arguably *much less* control now, than it did pre-Brexit, and that whatever is left of that control is waning as fast as events and stakeholders keep piling socio-economic pressure on the British ecosystem.

Chiefly, because the one thing the EU27 were the most united about during the difficult birth of Brexit, and still are to this day, is this: no special deal for the UK, given its diverging intents. About anything. Galileo, phyto checks, e-gates, etc, etc, etc.

"Comparing UK with Ireland, both government s are right wing and pursue similar economic policies."

Do they? Irish government appears to me to be far to the left of the UK government. I don't see taxpayer euros being spent on red-meat issues like deporting boat people, in fact, most on the right in Ireland complain the governments been too generous.

Irish government appears to invest in infrastructure - roads, broadband plans. UK? Uhh... HS2 but not really?

And, as far as I can tell, benefits (dole, Xmas bonuses, ...) only ever go one way in Ireland - up. UK? Not so much.

As to how the government spends its surplus, well, it buys votes with it for sure. Whether there's enough surplus to make a difference in the perceived housing problem isn't clear.

I am only quoting from an article of the past few days explaining the ruling. It seems Microsoft would be in a very dominating position if the acquisition went ahead. Possibly to the detriment of customers. The same decision would probably be made in any EU country

I don't play any games so I have no idea who makes what .

Brexit is a disaster, but the UK not bowing down to corporate greed is surely to be commended

The selfish gamepass subscriber in me wishes it would go through but the rational long term view part of me understands why it would be terrible.

However there is definitely something fishy in this as in the CMAs previous guidance statements this looked like a lock for approval, in fact in nearly all commentary on this you will see that pretty much everyone is surprised by this decision, many expected the FTC and the EU to block it or at least make things much more difficult so there would be a lobbying fight but nobody expected the CMA to block it least of all over cloud gaming.

So I think M$ are right to appeal as im honestly interested to know the details of how and why they seemingly suddenly changed their minds.

Google got bored as they always do and Sony don't seem to be bothered competing for it at all. It's possible Microsoft are the only ones capable of supporting this service under the current tech restraints due to how big they are, the only other potential competitor with the required infrastructure is amazon but they only seem interested in developing their own games. I agree the merger shouldn't happen but I honestly think the cloud gaming reasoning is rubbish and the CMA are trying to backtrack on their previous statements when they realized nobody else was going to approve this.

@Ben Done : indeed I did, although there is a lot more to that particular animal, than the tweet relates.

The UPCA is an international agreement which sets up its own jurisdiction, and the UPC (court) within that.

Think UN (in New York, but not US) or, topically indeed, the World Intellectual Property Office (in Geneva, but not Swiss) and, confusingly, the European Patent Office (in Munich and The Hague -mostly- but neither German, nor Dutch, nor even ‘European’ within the EU meaning of the adjective).

The UPCA was decades (around 4) in the wanting and making, and the UK was instrumental in bringing it about. To the extent that it ‘nabbed’ one of two central divisions (biotech for one, mech/leccy eng and ICT for the other) very early on, the other going to Paris, and the UK actually set up a physical Court in London once the thing got properly on the rails, years ago (2015 or 2016 IIRC).

[edit] must have been late 2016/early 2017, as that photo in the linked blogpost of June 2016, is the one I remember seeing when the thing was announced-

https://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2017/06/to-upc-or-not-to-upc-that-is-question.html [/edit]

The fly in the ointment with Brexit? The “unlock feature”, after so many decades, was the peripheral involvement of the EU late on (all UPCA member states are EU, but not all EU27 are in yet - incl. Ireland, which needs to run a referendum about it), with the usual role of the ECJ as arbiter on the interpretation of any point of EU law brought up in proceedings.

In the end the UK exited stage left for good in early 20, once Brexit got actually defined. And didn’t get the central division, wherein things have changed about that since (one still in Paris, one in Munich, talks still ongoing about a third in Milan).

As it happen, the Registrar for EP patents opted in and out is here in Luxembourg, likewise the UPCA Court of Appeal. Mrs ambro25 and I are peripherally involved with it, in different guises.

The jury is still very much out about whether the UPC will fly or not, of course. But one thing is certain: the UK, had it not Brexited, and the British profession would have been best-placed as the interface between that new system and the non-EU English-speaking corporate world (i.e. the very vast majority of it).

As it is, they will be gradually fading from view, with the French and German professions taking that role over (they already are, in terms of national patent litigation in Europe).

Small as it may be, there is a magnificent opportunity for the Irish profession here. So get that referendum about the UPCA going quick sharp 😉👍🏻