EU approves software patents directive

The European Parliament finally voted through the controversial directive to harmonise procedures for software patenting across the European Union (EU) at lunchtime today.

But the Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions was subject to 90 amendments, mostly aimed at ensuring that software itself would not be patented.

Many of the amendments were passed, which removed the teeth from the original legislation.

The amended proposals were passed by 361 votes to 157, with 28 abstentions.

The vote had been delayed twice following extensive lobbying by several groups fearing US-style patenting and stifling of innovation.

Among these were small business groups, open source bodies, European economists and even Linux inventor Linus Torvalds, all saying they would be disadvantaged by the legislation.