The European Union (EU) Directive on the Patentability of Computer Implemented Inventions (the Software Patents Directive) has been near death for the past three years.
At the end of 2004, the Directive was stalled by Poland, which requested more time to consider its impact on the software development industry in particular. In mid-February, following Poland’s agreement to allow the Directive to move forward to its next reading, the European Parliament waded into the debate again and called for the Directive to be withdrawn.
