EU Council approves software patents law
08-03-2005
by Deirdre McArdle

A majority of national governments in the EU have voted in favour of the controversial EU directive on software patents.

Despite opposition from Denmark, Poland and Portugal, the so-called Computer Implemented Inventions Directive was approved on Monday at a Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels. The directive was previously rejected by the European Parliament in February.

Just days after the European Parliament's decision to reject the directive, the current chair of the EU's Council of Ministers, Nicolas Schmit, deputy foreign minister of Luxembourg, said that he would push for the council to formally adopt the much-disputed legislation at the Council's next meeting. True to his word, Schmit refused to push the directive down the agenda for Monday's meeting despite a motion from Denmark to do so and the council approved the directive without a vote.

The decision brings the EU a step closer to allowing new legislation that would make it easier for technology firms to patent their inventions in Europe. Opponents of the directive say that the directive could provide big corporations like Microsoft and Nokia with a weapon to drive small software firms and open source developers out of the market.

The decision by the Council of Ministers to green-light the directive was welcomed by the EU's Internal Markets Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, who had previously failed in his bid to dissuade parliamentarians from knocking down the directive in February.

"I will now engage constructively with both the European Parliament and the Council to reach a compromise," said McCreevy. "I have listened to the views expressed both in the European Parliament and in member states. I will work to make sure these concerns are taken into account in the interest of a balanced result."

The directive has been widely opposed by small software companies, many in the Open Source community, and the Greens in Europe who were vocal in their disapproval of Monday's decision.

"The Competitiveness Council's decision today to adopt the software patents directive is a slap in the face for Europe's growing software industry and for the European Parliament," according to Monica Frassoni, co-president of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament. "The Council has apparently fallen on its knees before the likes of Microsoft, and betrayed the interests of Europe's software developers."

Elsewhere, ICT Ireland, the association which represents the high tech and information and communications technology (ICT) sector in IBEC, welcomed Monday's decision.

"European and Irish industry welcomes Monday's Council decision on a directive which is extremely important to our high-tech sector and the economy as a whole," said Kathryn Raleigh director of ICT Ireland. "We believe that the common position provides a balanced framework to protect and encourage innovation throughout Europe."

The directive will be passed back to the European Parliament for a second reading within the next three months. Under the EU's decision-making process, both the Parliament and the Council must agree on proposed legislation. In February, 19 out of 21 MEPs in the Legal Affairs sub-committee voted against the directive saying that in its current form it was un-passable.