Brussels, 18/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday the Competitiveness Council adopted an agreement by qualified majority on patents for computer-implemented inventions. Spain voted against, Belgium, Austria and Italy abstained. This agreement received the backing of a new compromise presented at the meeting by the Irish presidency which fine-tuned the definition of the inventions that could be patented. It outlines that computer programmes cannot be patented. "The consequences" introduced by...