The EU's controversial Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions (also known as the Software Patent Directive) will go before the European Parliament’s legal affairs committee (JURI) today.
The Committee will be considering a total of 256 proposed amendments to the draft Directive, which was approved by the Competitiveness Council (of Ministers) on 9th March despite calls from JURI for re-consideration of the text, which has excited opposition from many IT specialists and pressure groups.
Opponents of the Directive say that by allowing large IT firms to patent software and business methods (as is the case in the US) innovation will be stifled and competition will be reduced in vital technological sectors.
The European Parliament made extensive amendments to the Directive last year in the first stage of the 'co-decision' procedure, but most of these were ignored by the Commission when it prepared the Directive for approval by the Council. Several countries, notably Poland, held up approval of the Directive for a while but finally switched sides.
The Parliament objected strenuously to the Council's behaviour, and pondered making a procedural objection, but finally in April JURI announced that the Council did not break procedural rules by approving the software patent directive despite a restart request from the EP. Instead, JURI began formal consideration of a working document compiled by the Parliamentary rapporteur on the draft Directive, former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard.
Rocard has now assembled all 256 proposed amendments into his report, and final discussions can begin. The amendments, as before, severely restrict the application of the Directive to software. Patents would only be granted for software that controlled a physical process or a “controllable force of nature.”
The Parliament can reject the Directive lock, stock and barrel, or it can approve an amended version, The JURI vote on a final version is set for 20th June, with a full Parliament vote in July. The Council will then have to accept or reject the amended Directive as it stands.
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