The draft Directive, often called the Software Patents Directive, was on the agenda for yesterday's meeting of the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries. It was to be included as an "A" item, being one that is voted through without discussion.
But it seems that it was dropped from the agenda under pressure from the Polish Government, which announced on Friday that it could not support the measure. Its next appearance is expected to be the agenda of the External Relations Council on Monday, 31st January.
The Polish Government announced in November that it could no longer support the text of the Directive agreed upon by the Council, after it became convinced that the wording could allow for the creation of a more liberal regime of software and business method patenting in the EU, similar to the US position.
The issue came to a head in December when the Directive was placed on the agenda for the last Council meeting before the end of the year and the end of the Dutch EU Presidency. Coincidentally this was also a meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Commission.
At that meeting, Poland requested, and received, a delay in the vote.
The Campaign for Creativity, a campaign group which strongly supports the Directive, said that the Polish representatives were trying to take the Directive back to First Reading in the European Parliament – a process that it says could take up to three years.
"Those who want to abolish patentability for [computer-implemented] inventions need to prove that the current system is not working," said Simon Gentry of the Campaign. "After five years they have failed to do that. Restarting the debate will not alter that fact."
Lobby groups and some MEPs are hoping to persuade the Commission to completely review the proposals which, once approved by the Council, are due to be sent back to Parliament for a second reading.
