This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Deutscher Bundestag drängt auf Begrenzung von Software-Patenten

On 7 June 2013, the German Parliament unanimously decided upon a joint motion to limit software patents urging the government to take measures in this sense.

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Patentgerichtsbarkeit: EU-Minister unterzeichnen umstrittene Vereinbar...

After in December 2012 the European Parliament approved the proposal for a flawed unified patent court system that will put innovation at risk, on 19 February 2013, the Ministers from 24 EU member States backed the proposal by signing the agreement.

If officially ratified by at least 13 national parliaments (which must include the UK, France and Germany), the system will be used for resolving disputes on the validity and infringement of new unitary patents.

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Innovation in Gefahr: EP verabschiedet einheitliches EU-Patent

Despite strong and long opposition and criticism from patent lawyers, legal experts, SMEs and civil society groups , on 11 December 2012, the European Parliament (EP), putting at risk any innovatory efforts, adopted a flawed proposal of unitary EU patent and patent litigation court system.

The EP approved, right after the Council of Ministers, a package including a regulation for the creation of the unitary patent system, a regulation for the setting up of a language regime for the patents and an internatio

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Einheitspatent heizt Debatte um Software-Patente neuerlich an

The Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) of the European Parliament is preparing these days in view of the discussion on unitary patent on 17 and 18 September 2012. The issue of interest is whether these discussions will bring back the return of software patents as it seems to be the case, having in view the recent patent wars in the US (like that of Apple against Samsung).

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Skepsis in Sachen EU-Patentgericht

The EU ministers have recently put up plans to create a United Patent Court (UPC), a framework that will allow inventors to gain cost-effective unilateral patent protection across the EU.

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Einigt sich die Europäische Union auf ein gemeinsames Patent?

Based on a recommendation of the Committee on Legal Affairs, the European Parliament approved on 15 February 2011 the use of the enhanced co-operation procedure to create a unitary patent system in the EU, following the request made by 12 Member States in December 2010.

Presently, there are national patents coexisting with a European patent in a complicated and fragmented system which implies that the patent holders must choose the countries where they want patent protection.

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Empfohlen

End Software Patents launched a wiki to document the case against software patents. Over 100 articles are being written to give an idea of the scope and structure of the wiki.
http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Main_Page

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Noch eine offene Tür für Softwarepatente in der EU

A new international treaty United Patent Litigation System (UPLS) that may create an centralised trusted patent court is the new open door for software patents in the European Union.

The draft UPLS is inspired from the now defunct European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA) and is estimated to creat a new international patent court. As FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure) points out, the system will by-pass the national courts. This court system would be shielded against any review by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).