Software patents directive rejected – what now?
And everyone thought that it would finally be over. When the European parliament rejected the Directive on Computer-Implemented Inventions (aka “the software patents directive”) minutes ago with 648 of 680 votes, it dashed not only the hopes of pro-swpat-lobby groups such as EICTA of finally getting their way by inviting enough bureaucrats for dinner; the decision will also keep hundreds, if not thousands, of pro-freedom activists (such as the FFII people) from going back to their day jobs. The massive lobby-war drags on.
It is a great victory for the freedom fighters, and for the European people, to have prevented the adoption of a bad directive, which was the perspective just a few days ago. This was prevented by lots of behind-the-scenes last minute diplomacy, as well as by public action and publications.
But this outcome really is only second-best to the ideal solution: A good directive that definitely prohibits patents on mere ideas and algorithms, keeping open the path for innovation in Europe. What killed the directive in its current form was not a resounding “no” by parliament to the idea of software patents. Rather, it was the fact that the big conservative EPP block swung around to rejection when they saw that they would not get as much patentability as they wanted.
What does this imply for the future? Better keep those “No Software Patents” banners on your websites. The topic will be back (although probably not before the summer is over). One problem is that the status quo persists. The European Patent Office (EPO) will go on granting non-enforcable patents on anything that looks like two bytes joined together, just like it has been until now. Although this practice goes against declared EU policy, it has done so in the past, and there are no changes to prevent it from doing so in the future. The FSFE has a suggestion there.
As for the legislative level: You think that the process suffered from a democracy deficit until now? It might get worse. Now that the official route for legalising software patents in Europe is closed, the lobbying efforts will shift to the dark back alleys of Brussels. The public eye will find it hard to follow, as will underfunded public interest NGOs, as negotiations shift from official meeting rooms into expensive restaurants.
Nonetheless, this is a pretty good day for all of us. At least, worse has been prevented. But we will have to watch out. If we don’t, the interests of a few big companies, not all of them entirely rooted in Europe, might yet prevail over the the needs of the European people.
But I don’t mean to spoil the party. Hey, after all this shows once more that simple people, acting in the public interest and in coordination with each other, can beat back multi-million-dollar funded lobbyists. All is not lost. If we keep at it, we might even get the democratic processes in the EU working!