I've made an attempt to summarise what's currently happening about software patents:
http://fsfe.org/en/fellows/ciaran/weblog/the_future_of_the_patents_battle_an...
The main points are that the next time will be a battle about the judiciary instead of the rules of patentability, and what difficulties that causes.
If I've left out something that is important enough to appear in such a short summary, please let me know.