The Court of Justice of the European Union rendered on March 8, 2011 the Opinion the European Council had asked for regarding the draft agreement prepared by the European Commission on a European and Unitary Patent Court for the EU Member States willing to take part in the Unitary Patent scheme and for non-EU states (like Switzerland) which are signatories to the European Patent Convention. It held that the agreement was incompatible with EU law (see "Court of Justice Strikes Down Proposed EU Patent Court" [25 WIPR 10, 4/1/11]). Two days later, the European Council, in principle, agreed to an enhanced cooperation between 25 of the 27 EU Member States regarding the unitary patent — Italy and Spain not wishing to participate because of language issues (see "EU Member States Back Procedure to Break Deadlock on EU Patents Regime" [25 WIPR 9, 4/1/11]). The Commission, on April 13, published its draft Regulation for the unitary patent.
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