SOFTWARE PATENTS STORM STILL RAGING.

• Position: Brief Article

The decision by EU Ministers on March 7 to back a proposal on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions is still causing ructions . Debating the issue in plenary session on March 8, the European Parliament again challenged the European Commission for failing to present an entirely new draft Directive and criticised the proposed scope of the Directive.

Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy explained to MEPs that his institution could not have presented a new proposal since the Council was on the point of adopting its common position, which it duly did on March 7. He also emphasised that the text does not concern software per se. He warned that in the absence of a Directive clarifying the limit between what is patentable in the EU and what is not, software patents will continue to be granted in the greatest confusion, without any real harmonisation. However, if Parliament rejects the proposal in...