Patents Bill update
Not much has happened with the Patents Bill since it was reported back from the Commerce Committee last year. It remains unpassed following the pre-election dissolution of Parliament, and will be picked up by the new Parliament next year.
Meanwhile, it seems that lobbying efforts to overturn the unanimously endorsed software patent exclusion have, so far, fallen on deaf ears. At the NetVision 2011 Election Debate held on 18 October, both National (via Steven Joyce) and Labour (via Clare Curran) confirmed that their parties remained committed to the software patent exclusion as recommended by the Commerce Committee. The Greens also confirmed it as their policy.
Video of the event is available here, with the discussion on software patents starting at around 28:20 of part 2.
