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Paul Matthews at 13:29 on Saturday April 17 2010 in IITP Blog
As NZCS members will know, we conducted a "quick poll" survey of members on the issue of Software Patents last week, given the Commerce Select Committee recommended their removal from the Patents Act.
In the interests of transparency we're releasing the results of this poll. Note that this was NOT scientific and we don't claim it was. It was a quick poll to ascertain whether, in general, our members supported the Select Committee's position.
One thing which is very clear is that there are very good reasons for and against patentability of software. The only appropriate view is one based on balancing these pros and cons, and we've considered all points very carefully before arriving at our position.
The poll of members found that 96% of those with a view felt the Society should take a position on this, and 81% of those with a view supported the position the Society has taken. Even though this was not a scientific poll, this was a somewhat conclusive result and provides a strong indication of support for the Society taking a position supporting the Commerce Select Committee's recommendations.
We do appreciate, however, that not everyone agrees with this position of course, and we're continuing to engage with all parties with diverging views. As with everything, we consider all feedback for or against when forming our positions on matters of interest to the ICT community.
Following this clear direction and given our constitutional requirement to advise Government on matters of concern to the ICT community, we've written to Hon Simon Power, Minister of Commerce, to express our support for the Select Committee recommendation.
From the comments provided in the poll it would seem that most had a good grasp of many of the issues for or against, however we do feel that further debate and discussion is necessary. Hence we'll be providing for a member on each side of the debate to put across their views in an upcoming Newsline (the Society's newsletter), plus providing a forum for further debate amongst the ICT community. We're also considering organising a panel debate on this issue - more details shortly.
Anyway, you can view the full results from the poll here.
In the interests of transparency we're releasing the results of this poll. Note that this was NOT scientific and we don't claim it was. It was a quick poll to ascertain whether, in general, our members supported the Select Committee's position.
One thing which is very clear is that there are very good reasons for and against patentability of software. The only appropriate view is one based on balancing these pros and cons, and we've considered all points very carefully before arriving at our position.
The poll of members found that 96% of those with a view felt the Society should take a position on this, and 81% of those with a view supported the position the Society has taken. Even though this was not a scientific poll, this was a somewhat conclusive result and provides a strong indication of support for the Society taking a position supporting the Commerce Select Committee's recommendations.
We do appreciate, however, that not everyone agrees with this position of course, and we're continuing to engage with all parties with diverging views. As with everything, we consider all feedback for or against when forming our positions on matters of interest to the ICT community.
Following this clear direction and given our constitutional requirement to advise Government on matters of concern to the ICT community, we've written to Hon Simon Power, Minister of Commerce, to express our support for the Select Committee recommendation.
From the comments provided in the poll it would seem that most had a good grasp of many of the issues for or against, however we do feel that further debate and discussion is necessary. Hence we'll be providing for a member on each side of the debate to put across their views in an upcoming Newsline (the Society's newsletter), plus providing a forum for further debate amongst the ICT community. We're also considering organising a panel debate on this issue - more details shortly.
Anyway, you can view the full results from the poll here.
