Various organisations have been trying to introduce Software Patenting into European law. Software Patents are generally a very bad thing™ and have led the way to such stupid patents as the one awarded to Amazon for their One-Click ordering system and another that has more recently caused the death of a word processor called Ichitaro (that I would love to link to, except everything is in Japanese).

The interested parties have used some crafty tricks and loopholes to try to get the act passed as silently as possible, and so far this important story has managed to escape the mass media. Poland managed to block the bill twice from being rubber-stamped at the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries (!), but has finally caved in to pressure and says it will support the draft in a new vote.

The fate of this European software patent directive will most likely be decided as early as next week, so that means we have very little time to make as much noise as possible about the issue. Boing Boing has a call to arms, and you can find more information at the No Software Patents! site.