Poland scuppers EU software patents directive

And that means the EU Council won't be able to formally adopt the directive on the patentability of computer implemented inventions.

According to Florian Mueller, at the nosoftwarepatents.com web site, countries which supported this clause is unlikely to command a qualified majority.

That's because new voting weights kicked in the 25-member European Union at the beginning of this month.

The Polish government, although it had a flying visit from an €nvoy to push it in the opposite direction, said it wouldn't support the directive. After meetings with Sun, Novell, HP and Microsoft, the Polish government decided that the proposal in question was likely to make all software potentially patentable, which just won't do.

A number of countries including Luxembourg, Latvia, Denmark and Italy, as well as Poland, are now likely to submit amendments to the original idea.

Wladyslaw Majewski, president of the Internet Society of Poland,said: "The questionnable compromise that the EU Council reached in May was the biggest threat ever to our economic growth, and to our freedom of communication. The desire of the patent system and the patent departments of certain large corporations must never prevail over the interests of the economy and society at large." µ