New Zealand Sort Of Bans Software Patents After Years Of Back And Forth

from the now-we'll-see-how-it-goes dept

Over the years (and years and years) we've covered how the New Zealand government had decided to ban software patents only to flip-flop once the lobbyists for big software companies got involved. Since then there's been lots of back and forth fighting, leading to another attempt to ban software patents, which has finally passed. Of course, as we noted earlier this year, while the intentions appear to be good, some of the language in the bill may open some loopholes, so we'll be interested to see how the bill is actually interpreted, and what happens within the actual tech sector -- but at the very least, this seems like it will be a worthwhile experiment to monitor, especially for those who insist that it's "impossible" to outlaw software patents.
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Filed Under: new zealand, patents, software patents


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  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    out_of_the_blue, 28 Aug 2013 @ 8:20pm

    An amazing 4 links in 43 words! True, 3 are self-links...

    Surely you keep stats, so is this a record?

    Anyhoo, as usual, you don't venture an opinion or hope, so no one knows whether you'll be disappointed or wrong! I bet even NSA doesn't have Mystery Mike's opinions.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2013 @ 8:31pm

      Re: An amazing 4 links in 43 words! True, 3 are self-links...

      Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin id tempor mauris. Quisque diam velit, rhoncus vel sollicitudin quis, faucibus nec purus. Fusce placerat dapibus quam nec consequat. Ut feugiat interdum sodales. Pellentesque pulvinar massa non nisl ultrices convallis. Mauris nec blandit ligula. Duis faucibus posuere fermentum. Duis interdum sem semper justo euismod, ut venenatis ipsum elementum. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Sed viverra tellus ut enim faucibus dignissim.

      Integer ipsum elit, dictum eget aliquet et, tristique vitae turpis. Curabitur aliquam sagittis porta. Donec facilisis, magna id malesuada tempor, purus odio molestie neque, non rhoncus justo orci et ipsum. Nullam ac pharetra leo. Vivamus condimentum turpis eu mi auctor, nec dictum ante pretium. Maecenas imperdiet diam vestibulum nisl rhoncus, ac viverra nisi fringilla. Nullam lacus nunc, lobortis ac molestie ullamcorper, ultrices sit amet diam. Aliquam quis sodales quam.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2013 @ 8:56pm

        Re: Re: An amazing 4 links in 43 words! True, 3 are self-links...

        Is that you out_of_the_ass so blue?
        Were you trying to expand on your initial post, and just got locked into some shill/troll incomprehensible nexus?
        Shit Nexus -- that's Google something in't it, in't it!

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Hephaestus (profile), 28 Aug 2013 @ 9:47pm

          Re: Re: Re: An amazing 4 links in 43 words! True, 3 are self-links...

          It is a placeholder in typesetting. It has been around for a very long time.

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2013 @ 10:54pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re: An amazing 4 links in 43 words! True, 3 are self-links...

            Shit, that was obvious of course!
            I was just trying to make a sarcastic comment on OOBS's original post.
            Stupid of me to even bother.
            This lame asshole troll, looking to be a shill seems to have sucked almost everyone on the site to comment on his inane trolling posts. That includes me of course, but this is the last time!
            From some of OOTB's comments and the post tag lines, I would suspect he suffers from some sort of bipolar disorder, that is being fed by the responses on the site.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2013 @ 5:59am

          Re: Re: Re: An amazing 4 links in 43 words! True, 3 are self-links...

          I think he was responding to nonsense with nonsense.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2013 @ 9:45pm

        Re: Re: An amazing 4 links in 43 words! True, 3 are self-links...

        1. Copy post
        2. Google translate Latin to English
        3. ???
        4. WHAT

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Hephaestus (profile), 28 Aug 2013 @ 9:48pm

          Re: Re: Re: An amazing 4 links in 43 words! True, 3 are self-links...

          He was saying Bla bla bla ... thats all I hear from you.

          Get over it and stop feeding the troll.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2013 @ 10:38pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re: An amazing 4 links in 43 words! True, 3 are self-links...

            I just like to throw random Latin I encounter into a translator* to see what comes out, and it happened to be the most amusing I've seen from a single pass :)

            * (and yes, I know Google is awful with Latin)

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2013 @ 3:17am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: An amazing 4 links in 43 words! True, 3 are self-links...

              actualy google translate of lorem ipsum is an easter egg

              link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      martyburns (profile), 29 Aug 2013 @ 1:08am

      Re: An amazing 4 links in 43 words! True, 3 are self-links...

      "Anyhoo, as usual, you don't venture an opinion or hope..."

      ummm, Mike said:

      "...but at the very least, this seems like it will be a worthwhile experiment to monitor, especially for those who insist that it's "impossible" to outlaw software patents."

      ..that looks like an opinion to me.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ninja (profile), 29 Aug 2013 @ 5:11am

    At least it's a step in the right direction. As for the loopholes, they WILL be abused. I agree that it will be interesting to follow it.

    As for the ones replying to ootb: this is precisely the type of comment that should be reported and ignored.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    staff, 29 Aug 2013 @ 9:05am

    more dissembling by Masnick

    All you know about patents is you don't have any.

    In Federalist No. 43, James Madison wrote regarding constitutional rights of inventors, "The utility of the clause will scarcely be questioned. The copyright of authors has been solemnly adjudged, in Great Britain, to be a right of common law. The right to useful inventions seems with equal reason to belong to the inventors. The public good fully coincides in both cases with the claims of the individuals."

    Do you know how to make a Stradivarius violin? Neither does anyone else. Why? There was no protection for creations in his day so he like everyone else protected their creations by keeping them secret. Civilization has lost countless creations and discoveries over the ages for the same reason. Think we should get rid of or weaken patent rights? Think again.

    Most important for America is what the patent system does for America’s economy. Our founders: Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and others felt so strongly about the rights of inventors that they included inventors rights to their creations and discoveries in the Constitution. They understood the trade off. Inventors are given a limited monopoly and in turn society gets the benefits of their inventions (telephone, computer, airplane, automobile, lighting, etc) into perpetuity and the jobs the commercialization of those inventions bring. For 200 years the patent system has not only fueled the American economy, but the world’s. If we weaken the patent system we force inventors underground like Stradivarius and in turn weaken our economy and job creation. For a robust economy America depends on a strong patent system accessible to all -large and small, not the watered down weak system the large multinationals and China are foisting on America.

    For the truth, please see http://www.truereform.piausa.org/
    https://www.facebook.com/pi.ausa.5
    http://piausa.wordpress.com/
    http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/142741
    http://cpip.gmu.edu/2013/03/15/t he-shield-act-when-bad-economic-studies-make-bad-laws/

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      John Fenderson (profile), 29 Aug 2013 @ 9:38am

      Re: more dissembling by Masnick

      Think we should get rid of or weaken patent rights?


      I think patents are good in concept, for the very reasons you cite here, and don't advocate getting rid of them. However, the patent system as it exists in the US right now is broken and does not accomplish the goals that we both agree on, at least in some broad swaths of technology (such as software).

      Patent reform is essential to make patents useful again. This could be called "weakening" in the sense of dialing them back from their corrupt state now, but I think it's more fair to call it "correcting".

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2013 @ 10:29am

      Re: more dissembling by Masnick

      Glaring issues with your submission:

      1. The patent system has absolutely no standard that inventions be reproducible from filings. Many patents, especially method patents and software patents, don't serve the purpose you've outlined. So your argument there is actually in favor of removing patents on software since they would be useless for such a purpose.

      2. The constitution does not include 'inventors rights' at all. It empowers congress to secure rights as it sees fit to promote the progress. Contrast this with cases where rights are actually included, like the first amendment, which are explicitly crafted as a recognition of exist rights that exist independent of purpose.

      3. I'd love to see your evidence that the patent system fueled anything and, by extension, your evidence that any weakening of the patent system would lead to weakening 'our economy and job creation.'

      4. Large multinationals are weakening the patent system!? Could have fooled me...

      5. Your ludicrous link opens with 'junk patents are never used in litigation' which is demonstrably false as even a cursory glance around various industries for patent trolling will show. It goes on to even more ludicrously claim that all claims of trolling are a 'hoax.' I guess we all just imagined bullshit like IV or SCO or Lodsys etc ad nauseum. Perversely it claims all this is pursuant to making sure the little guy has a fair playing field with large industry players. Truth? What a joke.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2013 @ 8:20am

        Re: Re: more dissembling by Masnick

        An additional issue I have is that he cites the creation of the Stradivarius violins. Creating a violin is not a science so much as an art. No two are ever the same when created in the old ways, unlike the mass-produced instruments that students tend to start with, today. The secret to the Stradivarius lies entirely in the hands and ear of the creator. Even he could not duplicate any other violin he had made.

        link to this | view in chronology ]


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