Rather amazingly, it appears that the European parliament has actually worked for us rather than for big business for a change. According to this article in The Register, the parliament has made numerous amendments to the proposed software patents directive. The important thing is that the amended version makes software patents sensible (i.e. available for true inventions) rather than the imbecilic system in the US.

Of course the industry lobbyist are less than happy, but that’s a sure sign that the amendments are probably a good idea anyway!