Poland Erases EU's Pro-Software Patent Majority

Algorithm wrangler writes "It looks like there is no longer a majority for software patents in the EU. Yay to our Polish friends - glad you made it in ... Now we can just hope for a bigger push in my own country too (the Danish minister got fried over this issue recently)."

Belgian vote in doubt -- Infoworld

[JPMH]

Infoworld's report [infoworld.com] is claiming that the Polish decision may still be negated, if Belgium changes its vote. According to Mark MacGann of EICTA:

"In May, Belgium voted to abstain, and though I cannot speak for the Belgium government, we have been extremely encouraged by meetings we have had with officials in Belgium and are cautiously optimistic that they may change their vote to yes," MacGann said.

Should Belgium decide to approve the Council's version of the directive, Poland's change of heart would not keep the "Patentability of Computer-implemented Inventions" from being formally approved and the legislation would then move to a second reading in the Parliament, where the contentious debate would continue, MacGann said.

According to NoSoftwarePatents.com, MacGann has

got his sums wrong [nosoftwarepatents.com].

But this vote won't be over until it's over.

More reports

[JPMH]

More reports:

• ZDnet: Patent opponents claim success [zdnet.co.uk]
• Infoworld: Polish rejection may derail EU patent directive [infoworld.com]
• The Inquirer: Poland scuppers EU software patents directive [theinquirer.net]
• EDRI: Poland blocks EU Software Patent directive [edri.org]
• NoSoftwarePatents.com: Polish Cabinet Against Software Patents [nosoftwarepatents.com]

See also FFII's Breaking News wiki [ffii.org]

The Council of Ministers' first reading text had been scheduled [ffii.org] for fast-track approval [nosoftwarepatents.com] before the end of the year, probably by Agriculture and Fisheries ministers.