AH, THAT'S MORE LIKE IT: I was worried that the EU Parliment may actually come to its senses and push the software patent directive forward. Against all expectations, the final vote on the European software patents directive was postponed until further notice. The Polish Minister of Science and Information Technology, Wlodzimierz Marcinski, made a special journey to Brussels to demand that the directive be dropped from the agenda.

According to the FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure), Mr Marcinski felt the trip to Brussels was neccessary because of the pressure Poland's permanent representatives were under to accept the draft as it was.

What the delay means for the directive now is uncertain. Poland's minister asked for time to prepare a "constructive declaration" on the directive. Several countries support this position, having changed their stance since the vote on the text in May. Germany has already issued a statement saying that the compromise text has "room for improvement."

It is possible that the Luxembourg presidency will take a different approach and allow more discussion of the content of the draft, but the draft could just as easily show up on the agenda of the next meeting of the Council of ministers.