The software patents issue in the EU has been quite the roller coaster ride. For the last few months, every week or so there were reports that the directive saying software could be patented would be approved, even though the political tide had turned against it, with many countries claiming it was a bad idea and that they could not support it. Despite being told twice that they should start the process again, the EU Council ignored those efforts and today approved the proposal, despite last minute efforts by many to get it pulled from the list. However, the really scary part is the reasoning given for moving forward despite such widespread complaints and questions about the proposal. "We are adopting the position for institutional reasons so as not to create a precedent which might have a consequence of creating future delays in other processes." In other words, they're claiming that procedural efficiency is much more important than making the right decision. How dare people want to make sure that the policy actually is helpful, not harmful, to the EU before approving it! The directive still needs to be voted on by the EU Parliament, but it may be very difficult to get them to reject it.