The European software patent vote

Just as last week's LWN Weekly Edition was being finalized, the word came out that the European software patent directive had, after years of strange maneuvers, lobbying, and politics, been rejected by the European Parliament. And this was not any ordinary rejection: the final vote was 648 to 14. That is quite an outcome, considering that, not particularly long ago, a good result in the final parliamentary vote was seen as a long shot at best.

This vote is not a result of a sudden general understanding that software patents are a bad idea. In the end, most parties went against the directive because (1) it had been amended to the point that nobody liked it anymore, and (2) the parliament was not pleased with how it had been treated by the European Council. So the vote should not be seen as a definitive statement from Europe on software patents; it also should not be seen as the end of the debate.

For now, the software patent situation in Europe remains unchanged. In theory, such patents are not legal, but the European Patent Office (EPO) has issued quite a few software patents anyway. Some European member states are more friendly to software patents than others. So the situation remains muddled, and is likely to stay that way for a while. Court battles to determine the legitimacy of EPO-issued software patents seem almost certain. So software patents are still a threat, at some level, for European free software developers and users. Even if a software patent issued by the EPO is eventually thrown out of court, it's still no fun to be the one in court trying to make that happen.

In other words, this outcome is very much a mixed result. It is far superior to a directive which would have enshrined software patents in European Union law; the rejection of that language is an unambiguous victory. But it would have been far nicer to pass a version of the directive which clearly disallowed patents on software. It would have been nicer to put an end to this problem - in Europe, at least.

Because this debate certainly is not over. The European Council once said that, if the directive were to fail to pass the Parliament, there would be no further attempts. For those who truly believe that: we have some nice ocean-front property in Luxembourg we'd be willing to sell you. This sort of issue, backed as it is by interests with lots of money in the bank and even more in their eyes, almost never goes away. Software patents in Europe will be back, at the EU and member state levels.

For now, though, the free software community can celebrate an important victory. There is still no global software patent regime in place, and there is a far higher awareness of the issue than there was a few years ago. All the effort put in by so many people working to fight this directive has paid off. Great congratulations are due to each and every person who contributed to this fight, whether that contribution took the form of massive organizing or a quick letter to a member of parliament. You have shown that you can influence policy, even on an obscure technical issue, and even in the face of well-funded opposition. Well done!

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