[If anybody reading this is an FFII Editor and thinks this worth including in http://wiki.ffii.org/SwpatcninoEn then please do.]
Financial Times 20050218 p10
EU's lawmakers reject software patent legislation By Tobias Buck in Brussels
See
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6b002898-8154-11d9-a8de-00000e2511c8.html
for first couple of paragraphs (whole article only available to subscribers). Summary of article:
The European parliament, with support of all parliamentary groups, made a rare demand for the law to be withdrawn. The draft law has split opinion: Nokia, Siemens, Microsoft, Philips in favour, claiming that strong "IP" rights encourage research and innovation; they also state that already-granted patents would become invalid. Smaller developers warn the draft would concentrate power with the big players. The FT says it would allow patents on software making "technical contributions". Critics claim the text is worded to allow pure software patents. European Commission now must decide between tabling a new proposal and pushing the present draft forward. Its choice depends on the support of the EU Member States, who are now sceptical. It is unusual for formal approval not to have been granted, given that informal approval was earlier granted. The Commission will make its decision "after a meeting of industry ministers in early March" but is not withdrawing the proposal yet. Mark MacGann, president of Eicta, a group in favour of the law: "to be faced with this legal limbo is not helpful to European industry".