The vote in the European Parliament on a new EU Directive on Patent Law will most likely be delayed until the end of June. Originally, parliament was supposed to have voted in plenary this week. The delay is due to the immense differences in opinion between large software companies like Microsoft and IBM on the one hand and small and medium enterprises, (open source) programmers and civil rights activists on the other hand. A hearing, organised by members of the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament on 8 May, showed massive resistance from programmers and open source developers against the creation of a European patent on software.

Last week, 30 authoritative scientists and software innovators from all over Europe signed a petition against the proposed new EU Directive on Patent Law. In their letter to members of the European Parliament they argue that allowing for patents on computer programs will seriously harm innovation in information technology and endanger the future of the European Union.

Literally they write: "Acceptance of patentability of algorithms, of principles of software, of information processing methods or of data structures is scandalous from the view point of ethics, economically unjustified and harmful, would impact adversely scientific and technical innovation, and puts democracy at danger."

The petition arrives just in time to influence the vote in the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (JURI), on 28 April. Previous votes in the parliamentary committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy (ITRE) and the committee on Culture, Youth, Education, Media and Sport (CULT) showed a majority against the proposals from the European Commission. A previous petition for the public at large, organised by the Eurolinux Alliance, drew 140.000 signatures against patents on computer programs. Public consultation by the European Commission itself showed 90 percent of the answers against the proposal.

Anticipating the new EU Directive on Patents, the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (PRH) decided to accept patents on software. Before, the Fins were a lot stricter than the European Patent Office. The reason for the change in policy is mind-boggling. Because the European Parliament seems to propose much more unpermissive rules than the Council or Commission, the new Software Patent Directive will be delayed and therefore Finland felt it had to suddenly soften its line.

On 21 February, the EP Industry Committee (ITRE) voted against almost all proposals for software patentability. The leading Parliamentary Committee however, is JURI, and it seems a lot more in favour of extensive patents on software. JURI will discuss the proposed new Patent Directive on 17 March and vote on 23 April. The vote in plenary is now scheduled for the session of 12-15 May.

Current European patent law does not allow for patents on software, much to the dismay of large IT-companies like IBM, Intel and Cisco. In February 2002, The European Commission published a draft patent law directive that will be dealt with in a co-decision procedure with the European Parliament.

The proposed text clearly reflects the strong differences in opinion, but fails to reconcile them. The new law does allow for software patents, but not in all cases. Traditionally, innovations can only be patented if they are technical inventions. Therefore, the definition of 'technical' is essential. Under the proposed new law, all ideas are treated as inventions, but will only be awarded a patent if they are not obvious. The invention must contain a 'technical contribution' to make it non-obvious. In the USA, patent law also allows for