The EU Council will postpone its decision to make software patentable--a possible sign of mounting political pressure against the decision.
"The competitiveness council will not vote on this project before 2005," Belgian minister Marc Verwilghen told his parliament on Tuesday, according to a summary transcript of his speech. Verwilghen also told the parliament that there is a problem because the EU Council no longer has a qualified majority, according to a report by anti-patent group Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII).
The lack of qualified majority has occurred due to a change in the voting weights of EU members, which means that the EU Council members that supported changes to the directive in May no longer have a majority vote. Florian Mueller, founder of an anti-patent Web site NoSoftwarePatents.com, said that the EU Council could still adopt the proposal but that the delay may be a sign of mounting political pressure.