As you may or may not know, on May 25 there's a referendum in Denmark concerning whether to join the European Patent Court.
If the result of the referendum is a no, that means the new unitary patent will not be valid in Denmark.
From a free software perspective this is kind of a no-brainer: Currently, each year about 6,000 EPO patents (of all kinds) are validated in Denmark.
When the unitary patent is introduced, we can expect that number to grow to about 60,000. EPO's practices regarding software patents are very dubious, and we have no idea how the new patent court will view "computer implemented inventions"; but the whole setup is worrying.
I have co-authored an open letter to IT companies which was published on the Danish web magazine Den Fri:
http://www.denfri.dk/2014/03/softwarepatenter-aabent-brev-til-danmarks-virks...
(also available on my own blog, http://www.modspil.dk/itpolitik/softwarepatenter_og_patentdomstol___bent_bre...)
Apart from publishing it there, we have also sent it to all web bureaus in the Aarhus area and plan to send it to all small/medium software companies in Denmark.
We and many others, are also doing other things to get the no, of course.
It's a tall order: At least 30% of eligible voters must vote no for our accession to the patent court to fall. A majority of say 29,9% against 20% of eligible voters would not be enough, and turnout for European elections is traditionally low. Still, we hope the best.
General question: The European Court used to think the setup concerning the new Patent Court is illegal. Do they still think that?
Best Carsten