EU Software Patentability Directive Delayed Yet Again

The IDG News Service reported on February 2, 2005, the "JURI" Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament voted 19 in favor, two against, with one abstention, to ask the European Commission to withdraw its proposal for a directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions. Arlene McCarthy, the U.K. Labour Euro-Parliamentarian and former rapporteur for the directive, reportedly said that the approval procedure will now likely be delayed by at least four to six months during the so-called "restart procedure" in order to allow time for the implications of the legislation to be assessed.