A referendum on joining the

Unified Patent Court The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is a common patent court open for participation of member states of the European Union, and created by the "Agreement on a Unified Patent Court" (UPC Agreement or UPCA), which is provisionally applicable since 19 ...

was held in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

on 25 May 2014 alongside

European Parliament elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...

. The referendum was approved with 62.5% of the vote, enabling the government to proceed with the ratification of the '' Agreement on a Unified Patent Court'', which constitutes the legal basis for the Unified Patent Court. The court is from 1 June 2023 to be common to 17 Member States of the European Union for proceedings regarding

European patent The European Patent Convention (EPC), also known as the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to w ...

s. Ratification of the agreement, which had already been approved by a simple majority of the Danish parliament, also renders the

unitary patent The European patent with unitary effect, also known as the unitary patent, is a European patent which will benefit from unitary effect in the participating member states of the European Union. Unitary effect may be requested by the proprieto ...

applicable in Denmark.

Background

Election posters for the Danish Unified Patent Court membership referendum

Denmark signed the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court on 19 February 2013 along with 24 of the (then) 27 Member States of the European Union eligible to join. The agreement shall enter into force for those countries that approved it after ratification of 13 states (which must include France, Germany and the United Kingdom) and an adaptation of the

Brussels I regulation The Brussels Regime is a set of rules regulating which courts have jurisdiction in legal disputes of a civil or commercial nature between individuals resident in different member states of the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade A ...

. The Danish Ministry of Justice issued its opinion in May 2013 that a referendum or five-sixths majority in the

Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

was necessary for the government to ratify the agreement due to constitutional requirements on the transfer of sovereignty. The

Danish People's Party The Danish People's Party ( da, Dansk Folkeparti, DPP/DF) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP). The DPP lent its support to the Venstre– C ...

(DF) and the

Red–Green Alliance In politics, a red–green alliance or red–green coalition is an alliance of "red" (often social-democratic or democratic socialist) parties with "green" (often green and/or occasionally agrarian) parties. The alliance is often based on commo ...

, collectively controlling around one-fifth of the Folketing seats, stated their opinion that a referendum should be held. The People's Party said they would support the UPC if the governing parties promised to either hold a referendum on the proposed EU Banking Union or increase restrictions on the distribution of welfare benefits to foreign nationals in Denmark. Despite being implored to negotiate with the DF by the leader of the opposition

Lars Løkke Rasmussen Lars Løkke Rasmussen (; born 15 May 1964) is a Danish politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2022. He previously served as the 25th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was the le ...

, the government opted to hold a referendum,Denmark bundles patent court referendum with 2014 EU election
EurActiv, 20 December 2013 announcing in December 2013 that one would go ahead on 25 May 2014. The legal basis for the referendum was sections 20 and 42 of the

Constitution of Denmark The Constitutional Act of the Realm of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Riges Grundlov), also known as the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply the Constitution ( da, Grundloven, fo, Grundlógin, kl, Tunngaviusumik inatsit), is the c ...

according to which a majority consisting of at least 30% of the electorate could reject the decision of the Folketing due to it involving transfer of sovereignty. In case this

double majority A double majority is a voting system which requires a majority of votes according to two separate criteria. The mechanism is usually used to require strong support for any measure considered to be of great importance. Typically in legislative b ...

criterion was not met, e.g. if 28% voted against the decision and 20% voted in favor (low

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

), the act as passed by the Folketing would still come into force, allowing the government to proceed with the ratification of the ''Agreement on a Unified Patent Court''.EU Information Centre of the Folketing:
Folkeafstemning om den fælles patentdomstol
' (in

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

), March 2014. Accessed: 8 May 2014.

Results

The "no" votes equated to 20.2% of the electorate, less than the 30% threshold required (in conjunction with a plurality of voters voting "no") to reverse the decision of parliament to ratify.

References

{{Danish elections Danish Unified Patent Court membership referendum Unified Patent Court membership referendum Referendums in Denmark Patent law of the European Union Danish Unified Patent Court membership referendum