@TeeCee
If the EU has a hard-on for software patents, then it is more likely to rule against SAS and uphold that there has been no infringement:
There is a well established distinction between patent and copyright protections known as the 'idea / expression dichotomy'; patents protect (technical and otherwise qualifying) ideas whilst copyright protects the spectific expression of pretty much any idea, whether it is a Harry Potter book or, in this case, source code.
Therefore the ECJ is likely to say that patent eligible ideas in the SAS product could have been protected by patent law, and consequently SAS can't have two bites of the cherry by extending copyright protection beyond their literal expression of the source code.
So - maybe legitimate software patent protection isn't so bad after all. I certainly hasn't stopped OpenOffice, Samba, PDF reader etc. and by contrast has protected a lot of startups from poaching by big corporations.. just a thought!
/Mine's the coat made of asbestos