New Zealand to make software unpatentable

New Zealand to make software unpatentable
http://www.techeye.net/software/new-zealand-to-make-software-unpatentable

Great news:

New Zealand is set to become one of the first countries to make software unpatentable after its Minister for Justice, Hon Simon Power, announced modifications to the Patents Bill.

“My decision follows a meeting with the chair of the Commerce Committee where it was agreed that a further amendment to the bill is neither necessary nor desirable,” Power said, despite calls by pro-patent groups to alter things so that their software patents still hold sway.

He revealed that he agrees with the Commerce Commitee's recommendation in March that software “not be a patentable invention” and that the Commitee received numerous submissions and comments regarding the damaging effects of patents on the software industry.

Software patents are stifling innovation and threaten open source software like Linux (which most of the Internet runs on).

For more info on the patents issue, see:

• http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/intro/index.html
• http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/intro/explain.html
• http://endsoftpatents.org/
• http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Software_patents_wiki:_home_page (detailed)