The controversial European software patent law has been thrown out by European politicians, much to the relief of many open source programmers in the EU.

The vote against the law was overwhelming, with 648 to 14 voting against it in the European Parliament.

Many big companies were behind the push to make the bill part of EU-wide law, but free software and open source advocates rallied against it in an attempt to put pressure on the Parliament to abandon the law.

Patents give holders exclusive rights to certain technology for a set number of years, unlike copyright laws which are typically indefinite.

Patents are a big money earner for companies as license fees are charged for use of software under patent with restrictions often added as to who can use it.

Currently, a fifth of patent applications in Europe are for computer-based inventions.

Oliver Drewes, a spokesman for EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said, "Patents will continue to be issued by national patent offices and the European patent office under existing law."