[Upd-discuss] Free Software Victory:European parliament rejects software patent law

[Zapopan Martin Muela-Meza]

European parliament rejects software patent law

    * 16:44 06 July 2005
    * NewScientist.com news service
    * Will Knight
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7637

A controversial proposal to allow software to be patented was
overwhelmingly voted down by the European Union on Wednesday, ending one
of the biggest legislative battles in the EU for years.

The bill was rejected by 648 votes to 14 after its second reading. It had
pitted big technology companies wanting greater legal protection for their
software against small firms worried that patents would stifle their
ability to create competitive innovations.

The actual lines of code that make up software is already protected
against unauthorised copying under European copyright law and inventions
incorporating computer code can currently be patented.

But the draft law would have allowed companies to patent the function
performed by the software itself. It would have prevented anyone from
writing a new program to perform a task for which patented software
already existed, unless the patent holder granted a license.
Open source

As it snaked its way through the legislative process – bouncing between
the European Commission, member states and the parliament – the proposed
law stirred up some of the fiercest lobbying in years.

While the prospect of the new law was welcomed by big technology
companies, and opposed by small companies, it was particularly worrying to
"open source" programmers, whose software relies on the free exchange of
ideas and code.

The decision delighted the opponents of software patents while the
Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) – which represents
major information technology companies – tried to put a brave face on the
rejection.

"Conflicting views have confused the issue and made it difficult for the
European Parliament to reach a clear and balanced decision that would
adequately support innovation in Europe," it said in a statement.


Zapopan Muela
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