http://www.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade3?SAME_LEVEL=1&LEVEL=3&NAV=X&DETAIL=&PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+DN-20050706-1+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN#SECTION1
Michel ROCARD (PES, FR)
Report on the Council common position for adopting a directive of the
European Parliament and of the Council on the patentability of
computer-implemented inventions
(11979/1/2004 ? C6 0058/2005 ? 2002/0047(COD))
Doc.: A6-0207/2005
Procedure : Codecision (2nd reading)
Debate : 05.07.2005
Vote : 06.07.2005
There will not be any EU legislation on the computer-implemented
invention. On Wednesday, the European Parliament rejected, by 648 votes to
14 with 18 abstentions, the so-called software patent directive, putting
an end to a passionate three year debate.
Before the vote, rapporteur Michel ROCARD (PES, FR) said Parliament was
split fifty-fifty on the issue and all political groups decided to reject
the text rather than risk a result they could not accept. He added: "There
is collective anger throughout the Parliament because of the way the
directive was handled by the Commission and the Council," recalling the
contested approval of the common position. He said the vote is a clear
invitation to the Commission and the Council to show full respect to the
EP in future. He concluded that "this legislation is not mature for
adoption."
Commissioner Benita FERRERO-WALDNER reacted to the vote by saying that
without the directive, patents on computerised inventions will continue to
be granted by national offices and by the European Patent Office, with no
harmonisation and thus allowing possible different interpretations of the
rules.
During the debate on Tuesday, Commissioner Joaquín ALMUNIA told MEPs:
"Should you decide to reject the common position, the Commission will not
submit a new proposal." Attention now moves to the proposed directive for
a Community patent, currently in discussion in the Council, mentioned by a
number of MEPs as the appropriate legislative instrument to address the
issue of software patentability.
According to the co-decision rules, today's negative vote means the end of
the legislative procedure and the fall of the directive.
The common position, if approved, would have allowed patenting of
computer-implemented inventions. This outcome was advocated by big
software firms, which argued that patents would encourage research
spending and defend European inventions from US competition. On the
contrary, the directive was criticised by supporters of "open source"
software, mainly smaller companies, who claimed copyright already protects
their inventions and were afraid that patenting would raise legal costs.
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