[meatcider]

It's generally Good News, however NZ is a member of the TPPA negotiations, and a willing one at that under their current right-wing government. I'm not up on the details but I'd not be surprised to learn that the provisions in the TPPA will include some kind of software patents and that this will over-ride local law.

[bmcleod]

In general international agreements don't override national law, they just oblige the countries in question to pass laws that bring them in line with the agreement. Which they commonly fail to do in all sorts of interesting ways. Part of the mechanism in the New Zealand case has been closer to redefining what software is rather than what patents are.

For New Zealand to add software patents back in would require back tracking and quite a loss of political capital.