"For instance there was the attempt of a Software Patent Directive which was actually written by the
BSA. […] No one understood what SAP's and other BSA members' interest was in washing machine patents. It took some time for politicians to find out that the institutional stories patent departments told us were unsubstantiated, to understand why and communicate it expressed a bias due to the profit maximizing strategy of patent offices and the desire of the US software establishment to get market protection. European citizens jointly fought the intervention in the internal matter of the European Union. The rest is history."
Source: http://media.ffii.org/EbaReferral090430/html/tmp-lab_en.html