Software patent bill thrown out

European politicians have thrown out a controversial bill that could have led to software being patented. The European Parliament voted 648 to 14 to reject the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive. The bill was reportedly rejected because, politicians said, it pleased no-one in its current form. Responding to the rejection the European Commission said it would not draw up or submit any more versions of the original proposal. …

The rejection looks like the end for the bill as the European Parliament will also move to stop the version of the bill that has already been approved in the 25 EU member nations becoming law. …

Intellect, the UK's trade association for hi-tech firms, welcomed the decision. John Higgins, director general of Intellect, said it was right to leave the existing framework in place. "The current system has served the interests of the UK hi-tech industry well, giving companies both large and small the incentive to invest in research and the ability to protect the fruits of their work from exploitation by others," he said. …

More than 1,700 Europe-wide companies, represented by the Free Information Infrastructure UK (FFII-UK), joined the plea for the European Union to reject any law which patents software. The FFII-UK and many others feared the that the passing of the bill would lead to Europe following the US and allowing business processes to be patented. This has led to online store Amazon patenting and protecting its one-click shopping system. Big technology firms, such as Philips, Nokia, Microsoft, Siemens, and telecoms firm Ericsson, continued to voice their support for the original bill. BBC News