The European Parliament dissed software patents yesterday, voting against creating a single way of patenting software across the EU. Instead, according to a Seattle Times story, the lawmakers decided that patent protection should be determined on a nation-by-nation basis.

It was a landslide victory (648-14) for open source supporters who claim that patents stifle innovation and drown out the little guy. Tech firms like Nokia and Siemens AG that lobbied for the legislation said it would have given them incentives to invest in research and development.

One wonders whether open source advocates get any more benefit from the perpetuation of the EU's thick bureaucratic patent law stew than they would from having clear, concise laws that would apply to all software patented in all EU countries.

Any thoughts?

As for the success of the EU project in general, this is yet another pro-nationalist, anti-union defeat that only continues to divide the beleaguered institution's member states. Imagine if your New Jersey patent didn't hold water in New York or vice versa. I'm sure many open source proponents would disagree, but it seems like it will be difficult (or at least incredibly inefficient and frustrating) for European software firms to compete on a wide scale without more comprehensive patent law.

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