The Internal Market Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, has told MEPs that the European Commission will not propose a new software patent law but urged them to drop their opposition to the current proposal.

Addressing a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr McCreevy told MEPs that the ball was now in their court.

"If the parliament decides to reject it, then the Commission will respect your wishes. I will not propose a new directive," Mr McCreevy said.

"You can of course reject or substantially amend the proposal... The ball is in your court. I'm sure that you will exercise your rights and your judgment wisely," he added.

European Union industry ministers this week backed the software patent proposal, despite a call from MEPs for it to be withdrawn.

Big computer companies say that a patent is necessary to protect software innovations that are costly to develop but critics fear that the measure could stifle innovation and wreck the open-source software community.

Mr McCreevy also told MEPs that he was listening to their concerns about the Services Directive, a proposal to liberalise the EU market in services.