BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD: Members of the European Parliament from countries including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden have asked for the software patent directive to be redone from scratch, according to a report on Monday.

A motion for restarting the legislative process on the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive has been signed by 61 MEPs from 13 countries, according to anti-patent Web site NoSoftwarePatents.com. The signatories include a former Polish prime minister, a former European Commissioner and three vice-presidents of the European Parliament. The motion has also been published on the FFII Web site.