In historic vote, New Zealand bans software patents

[Sarge Misfit]

Very interesting news.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013 ... e-patents/

[Sherrie Melody]

That is interesting.

I wonder what impact that has on developers there when it comes to international trade. There are international agreements to respect patents, intellectual property ownership. Will New Zealand withdraw from those agreements. Will New Zealand developers be vulnerable to exploit by companies in other countries?

[Sherrie Melody]

Hey Sarge, you should post this over at SLU in the Science and Tech section. I'm sure that would spark some discussion

[Sarge Misfit]

Hey Sarge, you should post this over at SLU ...

Only if I were a masochist

[Sherrie Melody]

Hey Sarge, you should post this over at SLU ...

Only if I were a masochist

Well, there is that. Course, it's just the science section, not the political one.

[Constance Peregrine]

not that i "am" a masochist, but i did finally join slu a few months back...mainly as a test to see if i could get some terrains sold via there...

there is a kitely thread also some of us sometimes post in...i think it has generated a few lookers to here, not sure how well it has worked to keep any tho.

kitely bought advertising there also...

i stay out of the other threads tho, mostly, and read sometimes....but it is kinda boring to me for the most part...ppl posting a lot of stuff that makes no sense to me...lol

[Paul Wilson]

I believe that software is still copyrightable, just not patentable. It still allows for procedures and products that have patentable processes in them that are implemented on a computer to still be patentable.

One could not make a direct copy of someone else's software, but one would be able to make your own version of it. For instance, if I were to make a sit script in OpenSim, I would not be able to patent it to stop other people from making sit scripts, but they would not be able to just copy my sit script.

However, if I made a device that allowed a user's body posture to activate a sit script, then as this device could be patented, the software,a s part of the device, could be patented.

[Sarge Misfit]

One thing that this does is that a person can write software of their own to achieve similar effects without worrying about accidentally violating a patent.

[Rochard Hughes]

By their very definition, patents reduce the sharing of new ideas. It is not necessary to patent software because the option of copyright protection can be a better choice in many cases.