
UK Formally Abandons Europe’s Unified Patent Court - samizdis
https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/21/uk_abandons_upc/
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throwaway122kk
From Ireland, been looking at shenanigans in UK for last 4 years while
scratching my head at the madness which seems to have taken over.

Almost daily get contacts on linkedin for jobs both relocation and remote in
UK (London and Belfast) and each time I politely point out to the recruiter
that (beside the already lower salaries which have not kept up with fall in
pounds value) it would not be a wise move to attach one to UK at this time due
to all the uncertainty, also there has been a rush of companies setting up
here opening up many opportunities while remaining in Europe.

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secondcoming
London's different. If the world economy falls apart I'd rather be in London
than Dublin for job seeking purposes.

~~~
AndyMcConachie
The cost of living in London eats up any salary benefit. Once you factor in
actually having to live in London, or a murderous commute, there is almost no
benefit to living in London unless you're young or work in finance. If you're
young there are opportunities in London you can't find elsewhere in English
speaking Europe if you're willing to live like a pauper for a bit.

~~~
string
> The cost of living in London eats up any salary benefit.

Does it actually though? Genuine question having grown up here. I live with my
partner, our monthly outgoings living on the zone 1/2 border are ~£800 each
for mortgage, bills, car insurance, etc. Last year I earned ~£90k before tax.
I don't think I would have earned anything like that amount working in another
part in the UK. Even if my cost of living was halved I'd only be saving around
£5k a year.

I'm relatively young I suppose and I don't love everything about London, but I
see lots of benefits to living here outside of the income, too. I can also be
in the (proper) countryside in an hour or so drive at the weekends if I want a
change of scenery.

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ck425
> mortgage

When did you buy? I get the distinct impression from friends that even well
off techies are struggling to get a big deposit together for a London property
nowadays.

~~~
string
Late 2018. I got a big income bump in early 2017 and both my partner I and
were able to save for a deposit by living frugally for a couple of years. I
wouldn't have been able to do it alone though, I think you realistically need
two incomes to buy in London.

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madaxe_again
Shrug. Who even cares any more. The U.K. can abandon everything they want, and
any business or person with a brain or eyes to see will abandon them. I did.
I’m far from alone. What’s the U.K. going to do when there’s nothing left but
idiots and seagulls?

This also seems like a great opportunity to find any interesting U.K. patents
you can, and steal them. What are they going to do, write a letter? They’re
leaving all mutual enforcement agreements, too.

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peteretep
> any business or person with a brain or eyes to see will abandon them. I did.
> I’m far from alone. What’s the U.K. going to do when there’s nothing left
> but idiots and seagulls?

Right! Apart from being the 6th largest economy, a nuclear power, a permanent
member of the security council, a member of FVEY, the home of two of the best
universities in the world, home to London, being a cultural powerhouse for
several centuries, home to one of the most established and trusted legal
systems in the world, and printer of the pound sterling, the UK is basically
completely irrelevant now.

... Brexit is a shit-show and probably a bad idea, but perhaps let’s keep the
hyperbole to a minimum, eh?

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claudiawerner
>home to one of the most established and trusted legal systems in the world

I live in England and I have very little faith in the legal system, either in
its laws or in the prison system. In fact, between criminalizing posession of
some pornographic cartoons and the Snooper's Charter, not to mention the
mandate that ISPs keep your history metadata for 9 months now, I have lost all
faith in the English legal system. The populace that is apathetic to
encroachments on rights, freedoms, and privacy, much like how it is currently
trending in the US, is even worse given that there is no constitution to
protect those rights, and we have to trust _this_ government to create a 'bill
of rights'. I can't be the only one incredibly cynical about what that would
entail.

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dependenttypes
Please do not forget events such as
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guildford_Four_and_Maguire_Sev...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guildford_Four_and_Maguire_Seven),
they were arrested solely because they happened to be Irish and nearby an IRA
attack.

> At their trial the judge told the defendants, "If hanging were still an
> option you would have been executed."

from
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Conlon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Conlon)

Considering the amount of cases in
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Overturned_conviction...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Overturned_convictions_in_the_United_Kingdom)
I would not put too much trust in the UK legal system.

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Traster
I would love to understand from anyone, what it is about the European patent
system that we're unhappy with and leaving, and what we're doing to overcome
the chilling effect on innovation in the UK.

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127
It's really a shame for all the small business in the UK what's happening
right now. I'm really going to miss them. Lots of hard working people building
cool things.

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orwin
I don't think this is a great timing. I also think the brexit was bad timing
overall.

UK's engineering/scientific corp is good with electronics and biomed
especially, areas where patents are really important, and having a voice on
unifying EU patent without a doubt would have helped them.

They already need to import civil, construction and production engineers, and
Brexit will probably end with a no Deal when the country is trying on giant
infrastructures with a bit of central planning smell (and great job
Corbyn&Friends on that by the way).

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econcon
UK is a rich country. They can get higher productivity by simply hiring
laborers from Europe and not giving them same standards of work and life which
EU demands from member states.

That's enough for UK manufacturing to bounce back again.

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trekrich
you cannot be half in, or half out. They wont let us pick and choose. I voted
leave, so we are all the way out. Or we are all the way in.

~~~
dTal
The hilarious thing is that Britain _was_ half-in, half-out:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_opt-
outs_from_E...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_opt-
outs_from_EU_legislation)

Brexit is like the Aesop's fable of the greedy dog dropping its bone into the
water in the attempt to grab its reflection.

~~~
corford
>Brexit is like the Aesop's fable of the greedy dog dropping its bone into the
water in the attempt to grab its reflection.

I love this. It feels very apt (said from a UK expat, watching his country
slowly unravel from afar)

