See below - news that New Zealand's Commerce Committee has recommended ending software patents. This is an exciting step forward for our neighbours. Hopefully similar conclusions will be reached in Australia in the next year or two. Will let you know if I hear more. Cheers, Ben -------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Ciaran O'Riordan <esp@endsoftwarepatents.org> To: esp-action-alert@campaigns.fsf.org Subject: [Esp-action-alert] New Zealand govt against software patents! Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:44:21 +0100 ( Join the discussion at: http://news.swpat.org/2010/03/new-zealand-govt-against-software-patents/ ) Thanks to well-informed action from people in New Zealand, the government has taken a clear position against software patents. ESP has worked on documenting this since last May: http://en.swpat.org/wiki/New_Zealand The government's text, published today, says: We recommend amending clause 15 to include computer programs among inventions that may not be patented. We received many submissions concerning the patentability of computer programs. Under the Patents Act 1953 computer programs can be patented in New Zealand provided they produce a commercially useful effect. Open source, or free, software has grown in popularity since the 1980s. Protecting software by patenting is inconsistent with the open source model, and its proponents oppose it. A number of submitters argued that there is no “inventive step” in software development, as “new” software invariably builds on existing software. They felt that computer software should be excluded from patent protection as software patents can stifle innovation and competition, and can be granted for trivial or existing techniques. In general we accept this position. Full text: http://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2008/0235/latest/whole.html#dlm14... Help documenting this is always welcome at: http://en.swpat.org/wiki/New_Zealand Information about what's happening now about software patents is available here: http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Consultations_from_patent_offices,_governments,_and... http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Current_events http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Israel http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Australia