European Union ministers backed on Monday a proposal to harmonise rules for patenting computer-related inventions that critics say could stifle software development, a European Commission spokesman said. The draft bill has sparked a heated debate over whether Europe should steer away from patenting computer programmes or follow the US model of granting patents for Internet business models such as online bookseller Amazon's one-click shopping.
The ministers' decision is seen as a boost for hi-tech companies that are seeking more legal clarity on patenting rules, such as Nokia or Alcatel, but it's a blow for smaller software firms that fear they could be pushed out of the market.
The draft bill needs the backing of the European Parliament to become law and could undergo substantive changes as many lawmakers are seeking to amend the bill to favour small firms.
Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, in charge of the dossier in the EU's executive Commission, pledged to seek a compromise between lawmakers and member states to make sure Parliament does not reject the bill in its second reading.
"I will now engage constructively with both the European Parliament and the EU Council (of EU ministers) to reach a compromise," he said in a statement.
Representatives from Europe's technology industry welcomed the ministers' decision and called for a rapid adoption a bill that would harmonise computer patenting rules in the 25-nation bloc and boost Europe's economy.
They said the proposed rules would not introduce a US-style model for the patenting of all software, but rather add legal clarity to the current EU patenting system.
"Those fears are totally unfounded. This is not about patenting software, this is about hi-tech inventions,"Mark MacGann, director general of Europe's information technology industry association EICTA told Reuters.
"The directive confirms, clarifies and harmonise the rules and limits for the patenting of software," added MacGann, whose association includes companies such as Nokia, Philips and Alcatel representing 2 million hi-tech jobs.
But critics said opposition was mounting against the proposed rules and expected the draft bill to be rejected or substantially amended in the second EU parliament reading.
"The ministers are adopting it for institutional reasons, not because of substance," Florian Mueller, campaign manager for the NoSoftwarePatents movement, which is backed by Sweden's database developer MySQL and Red Hat.
Several member states have recently expressed doubts about the validity of the proposed rules. In the Netherlands, the national parliament voted against the bill, while a key Danish parliament committee recommended the rules to be rejected.
Poland, one of the largest member states, have been mulling a change of position for several months and was instrumental in repeatedly delaying the bill.