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18.02.2005 - 09:57 CET | By Lucia Kubosova
EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS - The European Parliament has taken an unprecedented step against software patent legislation.
The leaders of all parliamentary groups on Thursday (17 February) unanimously called on the Commission to withdraw the draft.
The rare move by the Parliament’s Conference of Presidents to use its right and send a piece of legislation back to the EU executive followed the previous turn-down of the proposal by MEPs in the legal affairs committee.
The computer-implemented inventions directive would allow software to be patented – in a bid to protect inventions that use software to achieve their effect.
While big companies supported the bill, arguing that billions in research would be wasted if they were denied access to patent protection, small and medium-sized companies feared that it would put them out of business.
They claimed - along with academics, consumer organisations and developers of free and open-source software – that software is already well protected by the existing copyright system.
The proposed legislation was criticised as too vague and too restrictive on the patentability of inventions.
It would - according to its opponents - allow huge multinational companies like Microsoft to monopolise the software market, while harming innovative industries, mainly in the areas of automotive production, technical components or medicine.
MEPs were entitled to call for a re-start of negotiations after Poland blocked the legislation twice in the council, and caused a deadlock lacking qualified majority for its adoption.
It is up to the European Commission to take the next step.
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