Poland won praise from anti-software patent campaigners in December when it forced the formal adoption of the directive as a common position of the European Council off the agenda of the Agriculture and Fisheries Commission. It has now repeated the feat to force a new delay.
The directive, which has been in development for more than two years, is designed to standardize technology patent laws across the European Union, but contains a loophole that according to critics would allow widespread software patents.
Concerns over the wording of the directive has led the European Parliament to attempt to include a variety of clarifying amendments which were largely removed by the EU Council in May 2004 as it announced a political agreement on a third version of the proposal.
That political agreement only needs the approval of a European Council Commission to become a common position of the European Council, but has been forced off the agenda of the Agriculture and Fisheries Commission twice in a month by Poland as critics maintain that more time should be allowed for discussion.
That delay could lead to the entire political process being restarted. Earlier this month 61 Members of the European Parliament introduced a motion asking the European Commission to go back to the drawing board on the directive.
The group has invoked rule 55 of the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure to file the motion based on the fact that there has been a change in circumstances thanks to recent elections and the enlargement of the European Union.
The legal affairs committee of the European Parliament, known as JURI, is scheduled to meet on February 2 and could take a decision on whether to restart the political process.
