New Zealand Adopts Partial Ban on Software Patents

Software will have to be incorporated in something else to earn protection

New Zealand has passed legislation which partially forbids the granting of software patents – but has come under trenchant criticism by the NZ Open Source Society for abandoning local developers.

Originally, the country's new Patent Bill (which passed parliament on August 29) had been expected to ban software patents outright. That intention stands: a patent application for a computer program won't be granted. However, New Zealand's commerce minister Crag Foss amended the bill so that software "as such" can't be patented, but inventions that include software can be