Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 May 2023
79. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will outline the work carried out to date by his Department to enable Ireland to ratify the agreement on a Unified Patent Court; his further plans in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22039/23]
View answerDoes the Minister agree the Unified Patent Court is extremely important? Can he outline what work his Department has done, particularly with respect to the arranging of the referendum to be held in order to enable the State to ratify the court? Is his Department responsible for putting the legislation together to enable us to have a referendum? How far advanced is that preparation?
Setting up a local unitary patent court in Ireland will offer users an accessible, cost-effective and more efficient option for broad patent protection and dispute settlement across Europe. Businesses will defend or challenge a patent via a single litigation process rather than costly litigation in each individual member state. Savings for businesses will be significant in this area. That is why, in June of last year, the Government reaffirmed its commitment to participate in the unitary patent system and the Unified Patent Court and to hold a referendum to enable Ireland to do that.
The preparatory work under way includes drafting a constitutional amendment Bill, along with a regulatory impact assessment. Amendments to the national patent legislation will also be required to recognise both the new unitary patent and the Unified Patent Court agreement. A local division of the Unified Patent Court will be created in Ireland if the State ratifies the agreement under which the court is established. Preparations involve engaging with the Department of Justice on the establishment of a new court and with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage regarding the work of the electoral commission on the referendum that would be needed. A communications campaign is being devised and an oversight committee, comprising the key stakeholders, is being established to support the work.
The simplified and much cheaper system of patent protection will make it easier, particularly for micro and small businesses, to export to more EU countries, and protect their IP while doing it. Businesses in other participating member states will have access to their own local patent court and we want to ensure that our companies have that same beneficial access here in Ireland.
To give a practical sense of the money savings involved, the current estimate for a company is that it will cost less than €4,700 to maintain a unitary patent for an average lifetime of ten years under the new system, if it is validated across the 24 participating member states, whereas it currently costs about €30,000 today, without this new system. There are very significant savings for Irish businesses. Let us not forget our businesses are reliant on export markets, predominantly within the European Union, for their growth stories. This is a very important piece of work that we need to get done.
I agree this is very important. Does the Minister agree with the assertion made by some business organisations that this could be worth between €500 million and €1.5 billion per annum to the State? Can he tell me why there does not seem to be any urgency in holding a referendum or getting ready for a referendum, seeing as we will probably be holding referendums in November anyway? Is his Department responsible for drafting legislation or can he tell me which Department is responsible for drafting the legislation to enable us to hold a referendum on this matter? Would he agree that this is very important for business in Ireland and that if we do not move on this, we could be left behind? I am amazed that our friends from the Fourth Estate have not picked this up, given it is so important. We are missing a huge trick here. Maybe it is because it is so complicated that people cannot understand it. I welcome that the Minister spoke about an information campaign, which is also crucial.
As I said, my Department is a lead Department here. We are working with other Departments, like the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and, of course, the Department of Justice because we have to set up a new court, but we have to get a referendum passed too. The Deputy and I are around this House long enough to know that passing referendums is not a straightforward process. The most important thing is that we get this passed as soon as we can but also that we do not risk its success by going at the wrong time. There is a likelihood that there will be at least one referendum in the autumn. There is also an opportunity at next year's local and European elections to run some referendums at the same time, when we know we will have a pretty high turnout. I think there is some sense in running this referendum in parallel with the European elections because it is a European issue and a European opportunity for Irish businesses. The most important thing for me is that we get this passed successfully in a referendum. We have two options, and the more likely of those two options is probably with the local and European elections this time next year.
I asked which Department is responsible for bringing forward the legislation to enable us to have a referendum on this matter and how advanced that work is at this point in time.
The preparation is quite advanced. Of course, we have to rely on the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage regarding the work on the electoral commission that is required for the referendum, but that can be done. I am confident that if we choose to do this in the autumn, it will be possible to do it in the autumn, but I think we need to make a wise political decision as to when we are most likely to get it passed and when we will have an electorate that wants to hear and understand the detail of what we are asking of them. What I am saying is that we may hold this in the autumn - that has not been finally decided by the Government yet - but I think the more likely date is to hold it this time next year at the same time as the local and European elections.
By the way, I can see the Deputy is impatient to get this done. As to the setting up of this court, whether we get this referendum passed in the late autumn or in the spring of next year does not make a huge difference. As long as we get it passed, we can then move quickly with the legislation on the setting up of the court. Either way, it is going to take some time to get that done.
We move back to Question No. 66.
