New Zealand Open Source Society
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The New Zealand Open Source Society is an incorporated society supporting the advocacy and promotion of open source software in New Zealand.
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[edit] Formation
NZOSS was formed in February 2003, after David Lane wrote an open letter suggesting the use of open source software in Government in 2002, co-signed by over four hundred New Zealanders.
Peter Harrison then suggested that a national organisation be formed to promote and advocate use of open source software, via the New Zealand Linux Users Group. This led to several meetings throughout New Zealand in 2002 and 2003, and finally resulted in the NZOSS being formed as a formal incorporated society on the 27th of February 2003. Since this time the NZOSS has been involved with various efforts to promote open source in Government, including participation with the Ministry of Economic Developments Authentication Project, and later a report on the State Services Commission guidelines on the legal issues of open source software.
[edit] Patent Action
In 2005 the NZOSS formally objected to a New Zealand Patent 525484, a patent for "Word-processing document stored in a single XML file that may be manipulated by applications that understand XML". The opposition was based on evidence cited by the United States Patent and Trademark Office who rejected the patent in the United States. The NZOSS withdrew their opposition in August 2006 as a consequence of Microsoft significantly amending the patent such that Abiword would no longer constitute prior use or prior publication.
