28/08/2003 (Agence Europe) - In Thursday's Financial Times, European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein defends the Commission's proposal for a new directive on the patentability of "computer implemented inventions". From Monday on, the EP is expected to discuss the report by British Labour member Arlene McCarthy on this controversial issue, but it is possible that the debate will be postponed (see EUROPE of 20 June, p.14, on the subject of the vote on the report in committee, with votes against from Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL). The directive would not change the basic principles but would clarify existing practice, the Internal Market Commissioner states, noting that around 15% of current requests for patents concern this kind of invention. "We are aiming to make the conditions for patentability clear and uniform and to prevent divergent interpretations by the courts", Mr Bolkestein says. CSU member Joachim Wuermeling, the "shadow rapporteur" for this issue, expresses views along the same lines in a press release, reproaching the "Open Source" lobby, which is against the directive, for "protesting against something that nobody wants, not even the Parliament". The EP rejects the American system that this lobby "quite rightly, criticises", the MEP said, considering that the possibility of obtaining a patent protects the "weak" against the "strong" who want to "pinch their ideas".