It has become convinced, according to reports, that the wording of the text could allow for the creation of a more liberal regime of software and business method patenting in the EU, similar to that existing in the US.
It would support unambiguous regulations, said the Polish Government, but not a Directive under which the functionality of software could be patented.
The draft, better known as the controversial software patents Directive, was widely expected to be rubber-stamped by the Council at its next meeting, but lobbyists suggest that the Polish Government's withdrawal of support will leave backers of the measure with insufficient votes on the Council to push the measure through.
According to the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure, without the support of Poland, those countries that supported the proposal in May now fall short of a qualified majority by 16 votes. New voting weights, which took effect in the EU on 1st November, gave Poland the ability to scupper the vote.
The Council vote had already been delayed, officially due to a delay in translations, but the vote will now have to be further postponed if the Council is forced to renegotiate the draft.
The Council announced only last week that it hoped to ratify the Directive soon, in order to send the measure back to the European Parliament in December for a second reading. Once there, the Directive was certain to receive a rough reception, following the Council's deletion of most of the Parliament's previous amendments to the draft.
"Countries such as Luxembourg, Latvia, Denmark and Italy had called for changes similar to the amendments made by the European Parliament, but those were rejected by the then-Irish presidency. They now have a chance to propose their amendments again, with support from Poland," said Jan Macek of FFII Poland.
"That will help bring the directive more in line with the European Parliament which took the position of clearly disallowing software and business method patents," he added.
"We are glad that Poland's refusal to rubber stamp the directive will open the door to renegotiations among the Member States and make it possible to incorporate the major improvements to the Directive that were proposed by the Parliament but have thus far been ignored. We believe that the Council should now only accept a clear and restrictive definition of patentable inventions," said Eva Lichtenberger, Austrian member of the Legal Affairs Committee, and member of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament.