New Zealand IP News
New Zealand internet users sighed in relief. February 2009
In a surprise announcement on Monday, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, says the government will delay the implementation of the controversial Section 92a of the amended copyright law. This is a crucial enactment to protect innocent internet users, many of whom are unaware that copyright holders from outside the country have complained about excessive illegal downloading of copyrighted materials through file sharing networks.
It is reported that the government may suspend the controversial S92a until the 27th March 2009.Currently, New Zealand and representatives of overseas rights holders are negotiating with the Telecommunications Carriers Forum (TCF) on how to draft a code of practice for terminating the internet access of copyright infringers. There will also be a period for monitoring of users after an agreement is inked.
For now (at least for another month), New Zealanders can breathe a sigh of relief that their internet access is no longer under threat. However, section 92A still needs to be fully repealed. It is disproportionate and unfit for the purpose of hitting back at infringers.
The recession does throw out some surprises though!
New Zealand custom officers are seeing a new trend in the smuggling business. Instead of the usual items like phonographic disks and software which has intellectual property rights (IPR), smugglers are now being caught with bringing in cigarettes and booze. Another item that is being smuggled is counterfeit cigarettes. About 260,000 cigarettes have been impounded since the beginning of the year. Most of the items have been brought in as an extra allotment stashed in bags at the country’s entry points by people coming back from neighboring states.
Before, there used to be a good demand for items like illegal software, video disk and electrical goods. There is still some smuggling of these items, but apparently, there is a slowdown in demand. Cigarettes and alcoholics seemed to be the preferred things being brought in, probably due to the ease with which they can be disposed off. People who are hooked on these goods have very little choice except to continue buying them, albeit in a smaller quantity. Just to show how desperate addicts have become, counterfeit cigarettes will also do if the real thing cost too much!
July 15, 2009.
The Maori heritage.
New Zealand’s Parliamentary Commerce Select Committee is considering updating the Patents Bill, which was drafted some 50 years ago, to include clauses that will give protection to indigenous Maori practices. Maori rights (much of it debated), which were reluctantly protected under the Treaty of Waitangi (signed in 1840 between Britain and New Zealand natives) has come under new attention, specifically those that can be termed under intellectual properties. The natives on the islands have been practicing their arts and cultures for hundreds of years, even before the arrival of the British, and they are now concerned that outsiders are trying to steal their techniques for monetary gains. According to a Maori spokesman, there is a need to protect indigenous arts and medicines practiced by generations of Maorians from being copied and filed into patents by outsiders. Looking from the context of law, it could be another category of knowledge that should have been included when the Patent Bill was legislated years ago.
Also included will be an advisory committee to specifically advice the patent office of Maori cultures. Others might see it as a special favor granted to the Maoris, but it should be viewed as an attempt to expand the assets base of the country. Under inclusion will be the so called Wai 262 claim, which essentially gives considerations to the large number of indigenous medicinal flora and fauna practiced by generation of natives. It has come to the public’s knowledge that large western pharmaceutical firms are scouting for secret formulas for patenting. Without legislations, a large number of these medical concoctions will be irretrievably lost, or even worse, with the natives having to pay for something that have been stolen from them. Else where, a similar case can be made of the rich cultural practices of the Maoris, where protection has become a priority in the age where piracy and counterfeits are common.
August 21, 2009.
New Zealand gets their IP rights on the right pedestal
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a total of 167,350 utility patents in calendar year 2009, and out of which, 800 or 0.47 percent comes from New Zealand citizens. Among the OECD countries, and based on a per capita basis, New Zealand seems to be doing well. According to New Zealand Trade & Enterprise operations director Craig Armstrong, the number although seems small, it however is “at least heading in the right direction”. It is culturally accepted by New Zealanders that before they bring their products into the market, they should seek intellectual property protection in their own country and overseas first as a precaution from being robbed.
January 22, 2010.
Patent System Overhaul
As part of the revamp for the New Zealand patent system that was enacted in 1953, a selected group of parliamentarians known as the ‘Commerce Select Committee’ has recommended that there should be no place for software patents. These are the words by the group…”We recommend amending clause 15 to include computer programs among inventions that may not be patented. We received many submissions concerning the patentability of computer programs. Under the Patents Act 1953 computer programs can be patented in New Zealand [...] Open source, or free, software has grown in popularity since the 1980s. Protecting software by patenting it is inconsistent with the open source model and its proponents oppose it. A number of submitters argue that there is no ‘inventive step’ in software development, as ‘new’ software inevitably builds on existing software. They felt that computer software should be excluded from patent protection as software patents can stifle innovation and competition, and can be granted for trivial or existing techniques. In general we accept this position”. It remains to be seen whether the country’s patent system will be revamped according to the recommendation.
April 3, 2010
About turn on banning of software patents
New Zealand politicians have succumbed to pressure groups to restore software patents. It was some months ago that the authorities were considering banning software patents. However, the restoration is not the whole thing that the pressure group wanted, but nevertheless, it was some relief of sorts. Among the things that were worked out by the authorities, there was no intention to ban software patents in the first place, where patent is allowed in the EU, it would be allowed in NZ, it should have a technical purpose and be an inventive step to be patentable like all other technical intents.
June 27, 2010.