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{{infobox new zealand}}
On May 7<sup>th</sup> and June 8<sup>th</sup>, 2010, [[Microsoft]] and [[IBM]] met privately with members of New Zealand's Ministry of Economic Development (MED).  They convinced the Ministry to abandon plans to exclude software from patentability, as can be seen in the new version of the text which was finally published on 28 Aug 2012.<ref>http://legislation.govt.nz/sop/government/2012/0120/latest/whole.html - see section 10A</ref>

There was also a private exchange of emails between the MED and Microsft, IBM, and the [[Business Software Alliance]] in the month before and after the meeting, where those three organisations submitted policy documents.

Details of the 8 June meeting only emerged when lawyer Steve Lundberg accidentally posted a confidential meeting summary on his blog.  Lundberg quickly deleted the blog entry, but the content was preserved in Google's cache.<ref>[http://nzoss.org.nz/news/2010/report-med-re-intrducing-software-patents Text of the entry]</ref>  The emails were then published by the government in response to a request by Peter Harrison (of NZOSS) under the Official Information Act.

==The 7 May meeting==

On 8 June, Microsoft's Legal Counsel wrote in an email to Rory McLeod:

<blockquote>
I have prepared a letter setting out Microsoft's submission and also including comments from the Ministry at my meeting with Silke and Warren on 7 May.<ref>http://devcentre.org/www/oia_patents.pdf : page 5</ref>
</blockquote>

No further details are available regarding the meeting of 7 May between Microsoft and MED.  The people mentioned work for the MED; Silke Radde is in charge of IP policy and Warren Hassett is in charge of the Patents Bill.

==The 8 June meeting==

The meeting was attended by five lobbyists:

* Dougal Watt, IBM
* Julie Motley, IBM
* Waldo Kuipers, Microsoft
* Brett O’Riley, CEO [[NZICT]] (pro software patent group funded by Microsoft, IBM, and other mostly foreign companies)
* Peter Wren-Hilton, Pingar (an NZ SME)

The pre- and post-meeting emails involved IBM, Microsoft, NZICT, the BSA, but no contribution from Wren-Hilton of Pingar or any other NZ company.  The meeting summary notes that Wren-Hilton made a statement in favour of software patents, but also notes that "''it appeared that he was not actually intending to obtain patents in New Zealand''".<ref>http://devcentre.org/www/oia_patents.pdf : Page 43, point 5</ref>

The meeting was attended by three people from the Ministry of Economic Developement (MED): 

* Rory McLeod, Director – Competition, Trade and Investment Branch
* Silke Radde, overall IP policy
* Warren Hassett, responsable for the Patents Bill

==The released emails==

The government published a fifty-page PDF document containing the pre- and post-meeting email correspondance<ref>http://devcentre.org/www/oia_patents.pdf</ref> in response to a request made under the Official Information Act.  The request was submitted when details of the 8 June meeting were accidentally leaked by a lawyer.

(Sorting the table by date works.)
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="border:1px solid silver;"
|- style="background-color:#eee;"
! style="border:1px solid silver;" | N°
! style="border:1px solid silver;" | Pages
! style="border:1px solid silver;" | Date
! style="border:1px solid silver;" | Author
! style="border:1px solid silver;" | Sent to
! style="border:1px solid silver;" | Notes
|-
| 1 || p1-3 ||<span style="display:none">20100700</span> July?|| MED || Peter Harrison <span style="font-size: smaller;">(NZOSS)</span> || Cover letter for the whole document
|-
| 2 || p5 ||<span style="display:none">20100608</span> 8&nbsp;June|| Waldo Kuipers <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MS)</span> || Rory McLeod <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MED)</span> ||  Email mentioning 7 May meeting.
|-
| 3 || p7-10 ||<span style="display:none">20100608</span> 8&nbsp;June|| Waldo Kuipers <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MS)</span> || Rory McLeod <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MED)</span> || Letter endorsing NZICT policy recommendation (included)
|-
| 4 || p11-17 ||<span style="display:none">20100500</span> May|| NZICT || Rory McLeod <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MED)</span> || The NZICT policy recommendation (7 pages)
|-
| 5 || p19 ||<span style="display:none">20100603</span> 3&nbsp;June|| Brett O’Riley <span style="font-size: smaller;">(NZICT)</span> || MED || Email
|-
| 6 || p21 ||<span style="display:none">20100602</span> 2&nbsp;June|| Brett O’Riley <span style="font-size: smaller;">(NZICT)</span> || Minister Simon Power || Email
|-
| 7 || p22-28 ||<span style="display:none">20100602</span> 2&nbsp;June || NZICT || Minister Simon Power || policy recommendation (7 pages, duplicate of item N°4)
|-
| 8 || p29 ||<span style="display:none">20100603</span> 3&nbsp;June|| Warren Hassett <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MED)</span> || Brett O’Riley <span style="font-size: smaller;">(NZICT)</span> || Email, and reply, agreeing to include BSA letter in 8 June meeting
|-
| 9 || p31-37 ||<span style="display:none">20100526</span> 26 May || Robert W. Holleyman <span style="font-size: smaller;">(BSA)</span> || Rory McLeod <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MED)</span> || Letter with policy recommendations
|-
| 10 || p39-42 ||<span style="display:none">20100629</span> 29&nbsp;June || NZICT || MED || Letter with proposed next steps
|-
| 11 || p43-44 ||<span style="display:none">20100625</span> 25&nbsp;June || Warren Hasset <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MED)</span> || MED || Meeting summary "Note for file", says NZICT "''were happy that their concerns had been met''" (are software patents back?)
|-
| 12 || p45 ||<span style="display:none">20100623</span> 23&nbsp;June || Rory McLeod <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MED)</span> || Brent Webling (Parliament) || Email, says no change, they will implement "''the Select Committee's approach''"
|-
| 13 || p46 ||<span style="display:none">20100622</span> 22&nbsp;June || Brett O’Riley <span style="font-size: smaller;">(NZICT)</span> || Rory McLeod <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MED)</span> || Email apologising for the leaked meeting report
|-
| 14 || p47 ||<span style="display:none">20100623</span> 23&nbsp;June || Brett O’Riley <span style="font-size: smaller;">(NZICT)</span> || Rory McLeod <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MED)</span> || Email suggesting how to deal with the leak
|-
| 15 || p48 ||<span style="display:none">20100622</span> 22&nbsp;June || Brett O’Riley <span style="font-size: smaller;">(NZICT)</span> || Rory McLeod <span style="font-size: smaller;">(MED)</span> || Email more about the leak
|-
| 16 || p49 ||<span style="display:none">20100621</span> 21&nbsp;June || Brett O’Riley <span style="font-size: smaller;">(NZICT)</span> || Steve Lundberg <span style="font-size: smaller;">(leaker)</span> || Email and reply where Lundberg reassures O'Riley that all the evidence is gone. [ha!]
|}

So, on 23 June, McLeod said there would be no change and they "would be implementing the Select Committee's approach", and on 25 June, Hassett reported that NZICT (pro-swpat) "were happy that their concerns had been met" (p44, last paragraph).  There seems to be a misunderstanding somewhere.

==What they lobbied for==

The result which Lundberg reported in his blog entry, was that Minister Simon Power agreed to redraft the legislative proposal to be like the [[European Patent Convention]] - which, as IBM and MS know well, equates to allowing software patents.

==Details of the key documents==
{{help|Any help is welcome.}}

=== NZICT policy document ===

(pages 11-17, and seemingly repeated on pages 22-28)

=== BSA policy document ===

(pages 31-37)

=== Meeting summary by Hassett===

(pages 43-44, by Warren Hassett (MED))

=== NZICT proposed next steps ===

(pages 39-42)

==Related pages on {{SITENAME}}==

* [[New Zealand]]

==External links==
* [http://news.swpat.org/2010/03/new-zealand-govt-against-software-patents/ New Zealand govt against software patents!], 31 Mar 2010, '''[[End Software Patents]]'''
** (Discussion: [http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/06/23/0235248/new-zealand-u-turns-will-grant-software-patents Slashdot])
* [http://news.swpat.org/2010/06/new-zealand-software-patent-victory-crumbling/ New Zealand software patents victory crumbling], 23 Jun 2010, '''End Software Patents'''
** [http://ciaran.compsoc.com/screenshot-p4s-deleted-blog-post.png Screenshot of the accidentally published blog entry]
** [https://nzoss.nz/news/2010/report-med-re-intrducing-software-patents Text of the entry]
* [https://lane.net.nz/blog/dave/nzict-unwarranted-influence-software-patents NZICT - unwarranted influence on Software Patents?], 3 May 2010, '''Dave Lane'''
* [http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/nzcs-lobbies-to-end-patent-protection-for-software NZCS lobbies to end patent protection for software], 16 Apr 2010, '''Computerworld.co.nz''' (they should call software patents a pox, not a "[[protection]]")
* [http://devcentre.org/www/oia_patents.pdf The fifty-page PDF released by the government in response to OIA request], 2010

==References==
{{reflist}}


{{footer}}
[[Category:New Zealand]]

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