The Foundation for a Free Information Structure (FFII),
a lobbying group with wide support from European open-source
community advocates, has reversed its position concerning a
software patent bill after the European Parliament handed a
surprise victory to the opponents of software patents last
week.
The FFII led a campaign to try to persuade members of the
European Parliament to scrap a proposal for a European Union-wide
law, officially called the directive on the patentability of
computer-implemented inventions.
However, the text agreed in the parliament on Wednesday is so
different from the original document written by the European
Commission, that the FFII will now lobby to keep it.
Advocates of open-source software applauded the Parliament's
move.
"We got everything we want," said Laura Creighton, co-founder of
Swedish groupware developer Strakt, and of a British publishing
software firm called Reportlab.
Creighton has also lobbied alongside the FFII. People who fought
hard to scrap the law will now fight just as hard to keep it in the
shape the European Parliament proposed, she said. "We are overjoyed
with the courage of the European Parliament. By changing the text
so much they have shown true leadership."
The European Commission, as well as the Council of Ministers,
the EU's assembly of national government ministers, are likely to
try to get some or all of the parliament's changes to the bill
reversed.
"There will probably need to be some work to be done to
reconcile the parliament and the ministers' positions," said one EU
diplomat.
But he added that the differences of view could be overcome. "We
are all agreed that Europe should not be allowed to register the
sort of patents you find in the US. Everyone agrees on that.
Everyone wants this directive because the status quo is far from
perfect. It isn't impossible to reach agreement here," he said.
The existing patent regime in Europe, under the authority of the
European Patent Office in Munich, outlaws patents for pure
software.
However, some patents have sneaked through, prompting many
critics to speculate that if left as they are, the EU's patent laws
will result in Europe drifting towards the US, which permits
patents for some software applications.
Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said the commission's
original version of the bill is a "good middle ground between the
opposing arguments". He added that the commission will examine the
parliament's amendments carefully.
Parliament and the council must both sign up to the wording of a
bill before it can be passed. If they fail to agree, the commission
steps in and hosts conciliation meetings and the three institutions
try to reach agreement.
Once the two houses do agree and the directive is adopted, then
the 15 EU member states have around 18 months to write the
directive into their national statute books.
Paul Meller writes for IDG News
Service