New Zealand government has just passed the new Patents Bill that will forbid the software patents. After a long five years of debate, delay, and intense lobbying from multinational software vendors, the country has finally nailed the law to ban the software patents.

“This is a significant step towards driving innovation in New Zealand. By clarifying the definition of what can be patented, we are giving New Zealand businesses more flexibility to adapt and improve existing inventions, while continuing to protect genuine innovations,” said New Zealand’s Commerce Minister Craig Foss.

The bill was passed unanimously and has been warmly welcomed by the Institute of IT Professionals (IITP) as well.

Congratulating the Commerce Minister Foss for listening to the IT industry and ensuring that software patents were excluded, IITP’s Chief Executive Paul Matthews said.

“The patents system doesn’t work for software, because it is almost impossible for genuine technology companies to create new software without breaching some of the hundreds of thousands of software patents that exist, often for very obvious work. Today’s historic legislation will support our innovative technology industry, and sends a clear message to the rest of the world that New Zealand won’t tolerate the vexatious practice of ‘patent trolls’.”

The Patents Bill was first drafted in 2008. The arguments and discussions kept going on till 2010 when Commerce Select Committee recommended a total ban on software patents. And recently in the IITP poll, 94 percent members voted in favor of banning software patents.