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The European Parliament has rejected the directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions sustained by lobbies of large software publicists such as the corporations Microsoft, Siemens, Nokia and Alcatel, grouped under the title of the European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association (EICTA, [1]). The directive involved the granting of software patents.

648 MEPs out of 680 rejected the text, 18 voted for and 14 abstained.

A rejection vote became the expected outcome when the European People's Party, initially in favour of the directive, decided to reject it.

The European Greens and European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party also voted against the text, for the reason that it might open the way to unrestricted possibilities to patent software. Michel Rocard, author of a number of amendments to the original directive, said that the adoption of the majority of the modifications seemed unlikely. "Better have no text at all than a bad one", he added.

Before the vote, rapporteur Michel Rocard had pointed at the irritation of the Parliament towards the Commission: "There is collective anger throughout the Parliament because of the way the directive was handled by the Commission and the Council".

During the debate on Tuesday, Commissioner Joaquín Almunia told MEPs: "Should you decide to reject the common position, the Commission will not submit a new proposal.".

The European Greens and European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party also voted against the text, for the reason that it might open the way to unrestricted possibilities to patent software.