EU Software Directive May Be Derailed Again

According to a Novemebre 17, 2004 report by CNET News.com, the Polish government said Tuesday that it could not support the proposed Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions agreed on by the EU Council earlier this year, and that a recent change in voting rules has now given Poland enough influence to tip the balance.

Mark MacGann, director general of the European IT and communications industry association, reportedly told the IDG News Service that although Belgium and Poland had abstained on an earlier vote in May , "we have been extremely encouraged by meetings we have had with officials in Belgium and are cautiously optimistic that they may change their vote to yes." Should Belgium decide to approve the Council's version of the directive, Poland's apparant reversal would not keep the legislation from moving to a second reading in the European Parliament, MacGann was also reported as saying.