Controversial EU patent directive is passed despite opposition

Posted on 7 Mar 2005 at 17:19

A controversial draft of a new EU directive that would legalise software patents throughout Europe has been passed amid massive opposition.

A number of member states asked at today's meeting that the draft be classed as a 'B' item, meaning that the various provisions within in were subject to alteration after further discussions.

However, the current presidency - Luxembourg - maintained that this would not be possible because of 'procedural' reasons. It claimed that the European Parliament, which opposes the draft, will be able to argue its case when the item goes to a second reading.

But ever since the draft no longer had a majority in favour, opponents thought they were in with a chance of changing the terms to outlaw the patenting of software and protect small software businesses and the open source community.

They are now incensed by this latest ruling. The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure claims that Luxembourg had to have a majority to deny the 'B' item request. It fears that opposing members were feeble in their objections and could have obtained the 'B' item.

'This is a very sad day for democracy, and casts a very dark shadow over the European Constitution, which will give the Council even more power,' it said in a statement.

Mark Taylor, Executive Director of the Open Source Consortium was more outspoken. 'The fact that an unelected body can ride rough shod over the near unanimous wishes of an elected parliament demonstrates that any pretensions the EU has to being democratic are just that - pretensions. To many this smacks of institutionalised deference to vested interest and intrigue, some of which originate outside the EU.

'This law, if it is passed, will crush the economic prospects of entrepreneurial software organizations seeking to challenge multinational proprietary interests. As such the government of Europe has shown that it is incapable of standing up to global commercial interests and incapable of handling its own consultative process.'

Monica Frassoni, Co-President of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, said: 'Ministers have ignored the will of the Parliament, where the Conference of Presidents unanimously spoke out against the adoption of the directive. Council has also ignored growing opposition to this directive in many national parliaments, which are justifiable worried about the future of their national software industries.

'The current text of the software patents directive must not become law. From this moment on, the Greens will work to assemble as large a lobby as possible to ensure that the current proposal for the directive doesn't get through Parliament's second reading in its present form.'

Author: Matt Whipp