European software-patents initiative flipped upside down

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Just hours after Bill Gates met with members of the EU Parliament in Brussels, they delivered a stinging rebuke to Microsoft's European software-patent policy.
Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee voted to restart the legislative process on patents. The earlier patent policy could have introduced widespread patenting of software in the EU ? a policy favored by Microsoft and other large companies with large software-patent portfolios. The MEPs' action means the whole issue of software patents will be restarted in a process that could take years to resolve.....
...Media reports said 19 members had favored restarting the patent process, while two voted to continue the earlier process. One abstained..... Whole story at EET