EU Council Adopts Software Patentability Directive

According to a report from ZDNetUK today, the EU Council has approved the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive, despite requests from Denmark, Poland and Portugal "to reject the directive."

According to a press release from the anti-software patent activists at The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), those requests included:

• Cyprus submitting a written declaration at the start of the Council session
• Poland, Denmark, Portugal and others (not specified) asking for a "B item" (discussion point), that would have allowed the item to be renegotiated
• The Luxembourg presidency claiming this was not possible due to procedural reasons, and that this would have undermined the whole process -> it would stay on the list of A-items
• Luxembourg then giving a long statement regarding how the EP still gets a chance in second reading, the importance of avoiding legal uncertainty etc.
• Denmark indicating that it was disappointed about this, but accepted and submitted a written declaration
• Later on, the list of A items was accepted by the Council