EU software patent directive stalled

A SURPRISE INTERVENTION by Poland means that the proposal to rubberstamp the European software patent directive has been stalled.

See Software patent directive steamrollered into being.

Florian Mueller, of the Nosoftwarepatents ginger group, said that Polish Undersecretary Wlodzimierz Marcinski asked for extra time to prepare a constructive declaration.

This, according to Mueller, is a "totally unexpected turn of events", after it looked like the item had been slated for "debateless approval".

The EU Commission accepted the decision. Mueller said: "The Polish government deserves the greatest admiration for its courage. At times it looked like the enemies of democracy would prevail in the EU Council and force a decision that lacked a legitimate majority".

He said Europe now has a chance to have a real debate on the shortcomings of the existing Council text. µ