EU council approves controversial software patent bill

EU council approves controversial software patent bill Paper published in Newratings

A controversial software patent bill was endorsed on Monday by a European Union Council despite stiff opposition from software developers and member countries, such as Poland, Denmark and Portugal.

The bill, cleared by the 25-member body, is expected to benefit large software companies with substantial patent software portfolios. The bill on software patents is now to be presented to the Parliament for a final vote. Under the EU’s co-decision-making process, the Parliament and the Council must try to reach an agreement on the proposed legislation. The Parliament can, however, choose to reject a deal put forward by the Council. The agreement was originally reached in May 2004, but its formal adoption has been postponed three times due to stiff opposition from several countries, which argue the proposal must be changed to ensure that it does not allow the patenting of computer programmes. Several IT vendors and open source developers have argued that the acceptance of the bill would open the door to a US-style patent regime, with small software developers being forced to leave the market.

Further information at EU Press Releases.

Adoption of Council's common position on a directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions

EICTA (European Industry Association Information Systems Communications Technologies) press release.