Innovation the loser in patent row

A storm has quietly crept up on the European technology industry this week in the form of a row over a software patent directive from the bureaucrats in Brussels.

It is a row that has been raging for over three years now as the European Commission wrestles with arguments that software patents will protect the dominance of the big IT players and stifle innovation at the small and medium-sized end of the market.

Protests this week have included mime artists on the streets of Brussels and 600 online firms take down the front page of their websites in protest at the proposed, and suitably snappily named, Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions.

Protesters claim the directive will legitimise patents on business processes and the ideas used in software, following the US model where large corporations such as IBM routinely stockpile patents to be used against competitors - usually to the detriment of smaller companies. But at the same time, companies that invest millions or billions of dollars into R&D need to be sure they have a robust legal mechanism for protecting their inventions.

It's a difficult one to balance but there is also the issue of time-limits on patents. Anything longer than a ten-year limit on inventions is likely to stifle innovation in that area and protect the dominance of one player, which is not good for the industry or the user.

A vote on the patent directive is set for next week and the result could have massive ramifications for the European IT industry for decades to come.